Solstice Castle - Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I staggered from the King's pavilion with his admonition against any seduction of his sole daughter ringing in my ear. Staggered is perhaps the most apt word to convey my physical and emotional state, for in one evening I had been feted and condemned by the King and dozens of nobles, seen the King and a Princess in the throes of sexual ecstacy, and been offered the sexual favors of the Queen. And -- with all this -- my overriding concern had to remain the mysterious green-cloaked assailant, presumably the "TN" of the note on which I'd stumbled while in the King's tent. This conspirator clearly would as readily see me dead as flick a gnat from his sleeve.

Thus, the reader should not be surprised that I was exhausted beyond all powers of revival when I returned to the festival. The partygoers also were obviously feeling the effects of wine, drugged herbs, and rampant sexual congress, as many seemed debilitated as well. I saw more than a few handmaidens stifle a yawn as they served exotic coffees to the assembled nobles. Madame Jeara was no longer in sight -- but, then again, neither were two of the younger, more handsome members of the King's small orchestra with whom she played. I could only speculate if there were any connection between these disappearances.

Feeling that I could learn no more to aid my investigation into the cabal behind the attack on the prime minister, I took my leave of the party, stopping briefly to soundly kiss both Charel and Licia, the two cousins whose greeting had commenced my stay at the fest, and waved at the winsome Jenfeer, who smiled warmly at me though she was pinned in place by a sleeping older Baron whose head was resting in her lap.

The cool air off the harbor cleared my head some as I walked along the sea wall near the docks on my return to the monastery where I made my home with the monks.

The puzzle flew through my head. Why had King Abred received a note from somone who may well have been launching a society of traitors to undermine his own rule? Was he a sponsor or victim of their scheme? What function did the jewels have? Clearly the conspirators needed more of the jewels to carry out the unknown but nefarious purposes for which they were designed, and some gypsy woman was at the heart of the quest. What would be their next step?

I stumbled back to the monastery and was asleep as soon as I lay back on the pallet in my small cell. I was awakened by Bedray's pounding on the door to my cell, and I sleepily hurried through my morning ablutions and proceeded to the kitchen to help him prepare breakfast. His grizzled features eyed me warily as I sleep-walked through my chores. On several occasions during the morning, he seemed on the verge of giving me some advice but, as I was leaving at the conclusion of our cleaning of the breakfast dishes, he merely tousled my hair, and advised me to be careful.

I tidied myself further and headed to the laundry run by Lindea and her father, out of a hope that they might be able to tell me the significance of the stones targetted by the thug who had pummelled the prime minister. When I arrived at the rough-hewn structure in which it was located, the front door was almost completely closed, but I could hear wailing coming from inside. I stuck my head inside the door, where I saw Lindea's father, Migeal, pacing the floor, his hands gesticulating in the steamy inside air.

"I can't believe they have taken her," he cried to the three middle-aged gypsy women who surrounded him in simple black chairs, their hands wringing their brightly colored scarves each had affixed to the sleeve of her blouse.. "We have been the most loyal of gypsy families and have taken care of the King's laundry every summer for fifteen years with total loyalty. What could we have done to earn such a tragedy?!!"

Suddenly, Migeal espied me peeking in the door and rushed over to me. "You!" he shouted. I looked around, ready to bolt. Was this hysterical man somehow going to accuse me of some wrong? "Master Jaze," he cried, rushing over to me and grabbing my hands between his soap-chapped hands. He pleaded with his bushy-browed eyes. "My Lindea has been taken away by the King's elite guards! She told me she had seen you in the castle. Perhaps you know someone there who can find out why they have taken her."

I wrestled my hands away, protesting that I knew no one at the castle and was merely there on a delivery. I then paused. "I'm curious. Were the guards who took her -- did they look like they were from the Drofnats clan?"

A gleam of realization finally slowed the shaking man. "Why, now that you say this, I think that this is so -- the hawk noses and brittle jaw lines were all like those of the Drofnats... Is that important?"

I hesitated, not wishing to give too much hope to the distraught man. "It might. I doubt if I can do anything, but maybe a priest might know." I nodded politely to the sitting women and rushed away before Migeal could press me for further information.

If Lindea had been taken by the conspirators, they must indeed have some need of the gypsies to fulfill the function of the jewels. But why the beautiful, dark-eyed Lindea? Was she in fact the exiled gypsy queen that she claimed to be? The answer lay somewhere back in the castle, to which I had no reason to think I could gain further access. Or perhaps I did.

I raced back to the monastery and plucked my flute from my cell, then raced to the gates of Solstice Castle. I waited until I spotted a guard whom I recognized from the previous night's fest. After a brief explanation, he recalled me. I then told him that Auria, one of the King's concubines (well, I actually called her a maidservant), who had enjoyed my playing had asked me to come around and serenade her, but I had no clue as to which window might be hers.

The husky guard's eyes laughed in didain. "Oh, and a mongrel street boy such as you is going to woo the heart of one of the King's... er, favorites with his flute. Be gone with you, you insolent whelp. You'll not disturb the palace's peace with your whistle, even if the young lady could hear you from her room, unless you wanted to have the carriage horses accompany you. Be off, now!" He swung a lazy attempt at cuffing at me, which I easily ducked, and then I scampered away with a disappointed look. While I hadn't received much cooperation, the guard had at least disclosed a general area of which part of the castle the honey-haired Auria resided in.

I tucked the flute into the sash that encircled my waist and went round to the gate leading to the stable. I waited just out of sight of the guards there. After a few minutes, I saw the butcher's small wagon come into view, obviously with a delivery to the kitchens in the castle. As it clattered past, I dashed from behind and sprinted along behind in a deep crouch, so that the wagon would hide me from the guards. When they stopped the butcher, I dove underneath the wagon, grabbing the front axle with my hands and locking my ankles over the rear axle. Then, as the cart continued through the gate, I made body as rigid as possible, pressing it up against the underside of the wagon's bed. Only after we rounded a bend away from the gate could I permit my body to relax. As we pulled past some bushes some fifteen feet from the castle, I dropped my feet and silently slipped to the ground, then rolled to the side of the path.

After several servants passed by, I looked up to the overhanging windows and spotted some likely-looking rooms. I stepped out onto the path and began to play my flute softly, of a honey-haired enchantress who had won the heart of a brave but humble warrior, conveying the hair color of the beautiful woman by interspersing her lush description of a beautiful maid with the buzzing sounds of honeybees!

On the lower floors, several disheveled heads of scullery maids peered out the windows at me in astonishment. Breaking off from my tune, assured them that the King had ordered a minstrel to play as a reward for the commendable efforts of the hardworking kitchen and cleaning staffs. The round-faced women looked at me dubiously, but were willing to accept the truth of my words, for their back-breaking efforts certainly were deserving of that much attention, and far more. Besides, if I did not belong, I should not have been permitted within the gates. They opened their windows a bit further and returned to their labors.

Finally, a dark-haired vision popped up in one of the higher windows: the stunning Onassa. "What brings you here, little flute player?" she called.

"I have come to offer my tunes to your comrade in arms: Milady Auria." Onassa started to giggle at my double entendre. "A serenade for a concubine? We're usually not accorded such seductions."

"Not exactly. She had asked if I might provide her some lessons with the flute."

"We do not usually expect to have tradesmen soliciting for their services within the castle walls. I think the guards must be receiving a portion of your wages to permit such." I looked around quickly but saw no guard. Onassa smiled. "Ahhhh, you are not here under even a guard's concession. Well, I will beckon the aspiring flautist, but I don't expect that she'll wish to risk her lot with a clandestine lesson from a scruffy sort such as you."

She left the window, and I crouched back behind the thick bushes, anxiously. This entry was taking longer than I had hoped, and, while the focus of the guards was presumably at the gates to deny entry altogether, it could only be expected that they would have at least some patrols on the grounds.

After an eternity, Auria's golden head popped out the window, just as two garden tenders walked by, forcing me to remain hidden. Auria leaned out further to search, and I could see that, at least from the chest and upwards portion of her body which was visible to me, she was clad only in a green towel loosely wrapped around her torso, held in place by her hands. Just as she turned her head back inside, obviously to inquire from Onassa about her caller, I stepped from the bushes.

Auria's huge brown eyes grew even larger in surprise, and she squealed, clasping her hands to her lips. The towel immediately slipped from its position, baring her breasts. Ah, soft and full they were, not so large or taut as, say, Lorena's, but magnificently shaped and capped with lightpink nipples -- a perfect soft shape that cried out to surrender to a man's sucking mouth. Auria squealed again -- engagingly so, I should add -- and reached down to pick up the towel. Two female hands -- Onassa's -- reached around the honey blonde from behind and held her wrists. The darker-haired girl's head popped up over Auria's shoulder.

Onassa grinned. "The young man has come up here and braved the guards just to play for you,Auria. Don't you think he's entitled to some entertainment in return?"

Auria giggled, squirming to at least cover her chest with her upper arms and elbows butsucceeding only in pushing her mounds together, her nipples peeking out at me impudently. "Milady Auria," I called up in a stage whisper, "I have come to give you the lesson you demanded, if you would have it."

Auria's smile widened, but she paused in thought. "Well..." she said slowly, "I was about to practice, so I do not suppose anyone should be too upset if an instructor is with me. But, if you get thrown out, that will be your own affair."

"And well worth such a risk and more," I countered, bowing gracefully. Onassa released her hands, and Auria suddenly leaned forward, her hands resting wide on the sill, fully exposing her upper torso to me.

"Alright, we'll bring you up through the kitchen, but I wouldn't want you to get any ideas about stealing the silver... or anything." With that, Auria's smile broadened and she coyly rotated her shoulders, cause her taut breasts to shake at me.

My jaw dropped, and Auria turned away from the window with a laugh.

I scuttled over to the back entrance to the kitchen. A heavy old scullery maid, red-faced and covered with flour, walked out a few minutes later. She peered at me suspiciously, but dimly. "You the new music teacher?" I nodded. "Yeah, well Mistress Onassa sez I'm to bring you up to the music room by servant's stairs. Looking at ya, all scruffy hair, I guess I can see why they don't want you comin' in the front way. C'mon."

With that, I followed her wide ass in past the huge kitchen and heavily stocked pantry to a narrow stairway, and walked up three flights of stairs. The old servant was huffing as she got to the top. We went through a side door out into a magnificent hallway. I quickly looked around, trying to get my bearings to see if I could find a safe route by which I could reach Lorena's chamber. If I could, she could probably pass a message to the queen to see if we might find out where Lindea was being held by the assailant, "TN". No guideposts came into view. We stopped in front of ornate double doors.

"Whatya lookin' for, young whelp?" The fat servant's florid face eyed me suspiciously.

"Oh, just remembering some happier days when I was here before." Her brow creased in confusion; I expected a bead of sweat to pop out, so unused did she seem to the exertion of thought. "Oh, yes, I was here last year visiting my cousin Lorena, Princess Paleem's lady in waiting. Perhaps you know her -- her room I believe is over in the other wing. Big oak door, lots of reddish pillows," I added, describing the room from my visit two nights previously. The servant nodded slowly. "Tell you, what, if you would tell dear Lorena that Cousin Jaze is here in the music room, perhaps she might be free to stop by and offer a greeting." Again, the servant paused. "She and I just love to chat -- oh, about life in the castle, and we talk about what she thinks of the various members of the castle staff." I gave the pudgy woman a measured, firm stare. She started, and her wrinkled features softened. "I'd be pleased to pass along to her my views of your own fine service."

"Well, I have my duties in the kitchen to attend to; we'll see," she said abrubtly. She nodded toward the open doors, and then turned on her heel and headed back to the stairs.

I stepped through into a large music room, dominated by a huge piano resting at the far end of the room on the light-colored, hardwood floors. Auria, now dressed in a simple, short yellow gown stood inside the door, flute in hand, waiting for me. She smiled shyly.

"I am pleased that you have come back to give me my lesson, Master Jaze. I would give most anything to be able to exert the skill that you displayed last night. But, I fear that the room's echos are too harsh for our playing. We have a smaller waiting room for visiting performers that might be more apt. Here, come with me." Auria turned and led me across the room to a dark door. I stumbled dumbly after, entranced by her bewitching ass.

We walked into a small chamber, some four paces square. At one end sat a heavy overstuffed couch. On the floor was a thick round rag rug. Opposite the couch were a series of shelves holding various small musical instruments. Air and light came through two small windows looking out into an airshaft.

We sat on the couch to commence the lesson. I realized that if we started playing we increased the risk that an official passer-by might question my being there. So, I stalled, starting by examining the grip by which Auria held her flute, taking every opportunity to reach around her and touch her soft hands with my own. She smiled and glanced over at me frequently. I then reviewed her playing posture, pressing her waist and hips frequently, even though she really had no defect in her posture. Playfully, I pretended to try different positions for her, contradicting prior instructions. Again, she giggled, squirming away from me.

I asked her to show me her embouchure -- the formation of her lips against the intake hole of the flute's mouthpiece. She pursed them with the requisite overbite, and I again gave her unnecessary instruction, showing her my technique on my own flute. She protested, "That's exactly what I'm doing, see?" Again, she demonstrated perfect form.

"No, I think you're still not seeing it correctly from your side." Rather than face her, I slid tightly up next to her, my thigh pressing firmly against her own. I held her flute with my hands next to hers, and pulled the mouthpiece to my lips. "Now put your cheek against mine so you cansee exactly what I do." She did so, and I softly uttered a clean, low tone. Passing the mouthpiece to her mouth, I instructed, "Now you." She blew, with the same clear pitch and tone. "Let's do it again." I blew one note higher, and passed the instrument to her.

Back and forth we traded, with the pass of the flute occurring with increasing speed. Soon, it became a game, and our lips grew closer together. Finally, we became jumbled, and our lips reached for the single mouthpiece together -- and I dropped the mouthpiece as our lips met one another, pressing firmly.

Such softness! Oh, if the flowers could know such softness! Her lips melted into mine with the liquid gentleness of a dove's dream. Our lips clung, and then crept open, as our young tongues escaped to find one another, and play, and tickle, and sweetly sweep across each other.

My arm rose and rested on her far shoulder as we turned to face one another on the soft couch. My hand explored the swirl of her neck, then slid down her firm back. She moaned into my mouth, and her hand reached up to clutch the back of my head to pull my face tighter against her. Her lips pulled away, her eyes devilishly searched my own. "Well," she said breathily, "is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Is Charel telling the truth when she says you are endowed like one of the King's stallions?"

I blanched in shock. "Charel told you this?"

"Most certainly. We women of the royal entourage have a great deal of time on our hands and not infrequently compare the attributes of those we are called upon to serve. She was quite complimentary about you."

My white face reddened. I stood up quickly. "It sounds as though you're comparing the attributes of a radish, or maybe a market hog." I was not sure I was mad, but felt I had a right to be.

"Oh, I've angered you." She looked up at me, and stared down at my loins, now just in front of her. Her hand reached up and lightly pressed her open palm against the lump jutting forth. I had hardly realized that the entrancing beauty had enflamed my lustful desires. She smiled and went on. "And I seem to have angered him, as well; poor sweet thing," she cooed. Her soft, full lips moved forward against my fabric-covered loins, pressing against the swell of my burgeoning cock just below the head.

I looked down at her sitting in front of me, her honey blonde hair framing her stunning features. The open gather of the neck of her blouse as she leaned to me exposed almost all of her magnificent titflesh. Her lips pulled away briefly, and then again pursed against my breeches, kissing the cloth and the shaft beneath with tender attention.

Sitting up, Auria now slid the strap of her gown from her right shoulder, pulling it down herarm, until the yellow bodice descended below one pear-shaped breast. Again I goggled at the fresh, almost innocent swelling of her soft bosom. Auria's finger traced an outline of my cock with tantalizing care, and then she looked up at me, her brown eyes again wrenching conscious thought from me. Her voice became husky. "Would you like me to make amends, my well-hung friend? To offer my apologies?" I was speechless.

Without taking her eyes from mine, her hands reached for the buttons descending just below my waistband.They quickly came undone, and she reached inside and lightly curled her fingers around my heated stiff rod. She pulled the heavy flesh out through the opening, my red tip bobbing just inches from her luscious mouth. Auria wrapped her fist around it, allowing only the tip to appear above her hand. Auria's eyes widened and for the first time lowered to cast their gaze upon my sex. Her lips parted in surprise. Her hand gently measured my length by stroking the loose flesh up and down.

"Astonishing!" she hissed. "I think making amends may be more of a task than I imagined. But a pleasant task indeed." With that, she again fixed her eyes upon me, and leaned forward, opening her tender lips slightly. She permitted my swollen cock tip to drop gently on her tongue, and I could see the first drop of pre-cum affix itself to its floor. The sweet lapper then drew back to the very end of my member, and then the two tips met, with her tongue endeavoring to probe inside the small slit at the end of my own. She hastened the pace of her hand's stroking, drawing out more of my leaking seed, which descended onto the tongue in a white string. Her eyes smiled even more warmly than before up at mine.

She stopped her stroking with her hand resting around the fleshy collar at the neck of my engorged cock, and then her lips captured the entire reddish helmet underneath her upper lip. My tip soaked passively in the wet furnace of her mouth, until she drew her cheeks in, sucking out more of the pre-cum. Her eyes closed only briefly as I saw her adam's apple bob, denoting her swallowing of my anticipatory essence. The brown orbs then re-focused upon my face with adevilish hint of surprises to come.

Her face moved forward slowly until her lips reached the end of her grasping hand. Then, both moved forward slowly, as she drew more and more of the thick, hard shaft into her mouth. In it went, and I expected at each instant that she would stop her capturing progress, but she continued to bore on further. I shuddered at the sensation of each succeeding inch being caressed by her soft lips. Her hand reached the base of my cock, but her head continued forward, while her hand flattened against my belly to give her mouth passage. I felt the tip scrape against the back of the roof of her mouth, and then probe at the opening to her throat, with several inches remaining outside of her sucking pink lips.

With an unwavering gaze upon my flushed features, she continued on, as I felt my tender cocktip enter her throat without pause or panic by her. With a wet smack, her throat absorbed even more, until I had given the beautiful vixen all of my length and her nose was pressed into my belly.

After at least five counts of the clock, she finally, reluctantly drew her mouth back -- again with maddening slowness -- clinging lips squeezing at my blue-veined flesh at each stage. She stopped her ascent with the tip again soaking in her sweet mouth. Her face darted back forward, now quickly garnering my cock's head with her throat, and again incarcerating her prisoner for at least a five-count, before withdrawing.

No man could remain impassive during such ministrations by one with the beauty and incredible skill of the stunning Auria. I began to anticipate her movements, and lightly thrust my loins forward. She took me easily down into her throat. I jerked forward some half a dozen times, and felt the rush of fire to my loins, so charged was I by the velvet torture of her talented mouth. To abate my early lust, I reached down and cupped artfully chiseled cheeks of her face and pulled her off my cock. The tip slid gently out of her wet, red mouth and descended her chin, leaving a white sticky trail of saliva and my seed. She arched her neck, and the hard, wet head of my organ bobbed below her chin, finally striking at her exposed right nipple.

In a playful fashion, I roughly pushed her straight back onto the sofa and fell to one knee. I cupped my hand around her perfect breast. It indeed was as soft as my mind's eye had imagined, except for the hard, excited nipple. I darted my face forward and took that same tip into my mouth, lapping at the tingling bud. Auria moaned in pleasure, pulling my face harder against her chest. I swirled my tongue around the nipple and flushed aureole. Urgently, I opened my mouth wider and took in even more of the downy soft breast, suckling at it feverishly.

As I knelt, my bobbing cock swayed against her slim thigh. As my sucking on her breast continued, I could feel her thighs tremble, and then twitch apart. Needing no further invitation, I dropped my head down between her thighs and pushed the hem of her short gown up toward her waist. Her knees parted further, and, to my surprise, I could see that the little tart had failed to don any undergarment after her shower, leaving her entire sexual region exposed to my feasting eyes. Her lightly-furred lips were swollen with passion, giving off a musty, aqueous air. I parted her labia with my thumbs and pressed my own lips against the flowering opening. She shrieked in pleased surprise. I looked at her quaking torso, over her softly quivering tit flesh. Auria's eyes were locked on the scene at her loins, savoring both the image and sensation of my kiss.

I allowed my tongue to lightly part her nether lips, and was greeted with a pool of her pussy's lustful emissions. I thrust my lapper deep inside, and wriggled it about against the walls of her sweet tunnel. She shrieked again. My tongue dove in several more times, remaining constantly in motion as it made its passage. Auria responded to each with a moan or keening chirp. Clearly, the maiden was afire with uncontrollable passion. I withdrew my tongue to the opening and ran it up her slit to her clitoris, swollen to solidity by her body's urges. My lips sucked and tugged at the heated node, and then my teeth, safely covered by my lips, nipped gently at it. She threw her hips up against my face with a groan. I tugged twice more and laved at the bud. Her staccato moaning rose to a nearly constant wail.

"Oh, Lord, yes, yes, yes!" she managed through her trembling lips. Her thighs swung open and closed against my slavering face.

With an unexpected force of will, she managed to subside the writhing of her loins and grunt out huskily, "Please... now, I want you in me now!" She sat up, drawing my chin up with her hand. She then kicked her wide-spread left leg over my head and stood up, and wrestled me up onto the couch and into a sitting position. My hard cock stood straight up in my lap.

The standing girl turned away from me, then pulled her robe's skirt up to her waist, baring her perfect, slim-hipped ass to me. Backing up, she gingerly sat back on my lap. I guided her down with my hands on her hips and ass. She reached beneath her and grabbed my hard rod. As she sat further, she guided my tip into her wet portals. I slipped in about an inch, and then snagged. She rose up and descended again, constricting me tighter as she forced herself down... and then I burst in. She dropped fully into my lap, encasing me in her wet tightness.

With a crooked grin, Auria turned her head and tilted it back to kiss me hungirly. As she did, her loins squirmed in a circle around my fleshy post that impaled her. I held her hips in my hands and increased the radius of her gyrations.

She spread her knees so that they rested outside my own, and then leaned forward, resting her hands on my kneecaps. With that leverage and the grasping hands on her hips and ass, she had leverage to rock forward, away from me, and then drop her tight, young succulent channel back down on my filling cock. The hem of her robe drifted down so that it obscured our joined loins. With a groan, she raised again so that my throbbing muscle came almost completely free. Almost immediately, she slammed her slim ass down, smacking audibly onto my loins. Her eyes pressed shut as she concentrated on re-ascending the peak of passion to which my mouth had brought her. From the short, panting breaths that accompanied her vigorous riding of my cock, it seemed that such a moment might not be too far away.

I levered against her pumping loins by clutching tightly to her hips and forcing my own reddened cockshaft heavily up inside her. Her wetness seemed to increase, and it trickled from her juicy cleft down my shaft, pooling in my nether hairs. Implorations to ram into her harder spat out of her pouting, panting lips. The demure young beauty I first had met had since been possessed by the soul of a wanton she-devil.

With no further warning, my lover's body tensed above me and her uttered oaths and profanities ceased, replaced by a sustained cry, rising in pitch and volume upon each second's passage. Her body shook, and her hips jerked in four long spasms. The pulsating tugs upon my own lustful organ only confirmed the obvious, her achievment of a stirring orgasm while riding my broadsword. I held her ass more firmly as she shuddered with each new rictus of her coming. Her wailing cries descended to pleased moans, and over her shoulder, I could see her stunning features split in a broad grin. She experimentally brought her ass up one more time, and slid her satisfied quim down again on my cock, obviously testing its rigidity, its capacity for further immediate relief.

Suddenly, the door from the main performance room swung open, revealing a shocked Lorena,the beautiful, statuesque lady-in-waiting to Princess Paleem. Rebca, their shorter, dark-haired (and equally beautiful) maidservant peered around her shoulder. Both were wide-eyed at the sight of our two sweaty bodies, locked together at the genitals out of sight beneath the hem of Aurina's skirt.

Lorena's features finally began working again, and she broke into a superior sort of grin. "So, if it isn't my long lost 'cousin' Jaze, once again dipping his wick at Solstice Castle, and now with one of the King's concubines."

Aurina brushed a stray blonde curl from her own face and slid the strap of her gown back upher right arm, re-covering her sweat-glistened breast. She glared back at Lorena, but made no move to rise from my lap. No one said a word.

Continued in Chapter 12

---