Tales of Erogenia: Book 2 - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Return?

"Oh, Goddess!" Zenaria gasped. She was face down on the huge bed, her arms clutching the bedpost and her hips slightly raised by a brace of pillows. Sir Varden was ploughing her furrow like a farmer with a three horse team. His stamina was incredible, more than making up for his lack of technique and his somewhat prudish nature, as he forced her to the edge of orgasmic exhaustion.

"Your goddess will not save you now, Princess," Varden replied. He reached forward, squeezed her breasts and leaned back and slammed into her another dozen times.

Zenaria moaned. Varden was hung like his horse; another characteristic that helped to make up for his neophyte lovemaking. The head of his shaft was kissing her cervix, and he had more in reserve. He pulled out, giving her a brief respite before turning her on her side and lifting her left leg. Shifting his weight he straddled her thigh, opening her vulva to still another attack.

He eased his way in, using her raised leg to hold her steady, and slowly began to move in and out of her throbbing pleasure garden. He pulled her close, penetrating her deeply while lightly caressing the area just above her nether lips. Zenaria could not hold back a scream as her body contracted in yet another orgasm. Then Varden grunted and released his seed into her, "Oh bless thee!"

Still quivering, Zenaria settled into Varden's arms. For all of his strength and energy, he was a gentle and compassionate lover, one who would certainly improve with time and practice; and she fully intended to give him that practice.

"I could stay with you forever, Princess," Varden said as he stroked her hair, "but we have already been two days in this room and I think it is time we returned."

"I suppose you are right," Zenaria agreed, as she snuggled closer. "I still have my embassy to complete."

"Umm," Varden hemmed, "it is another reason I had in mind."

"Oh?" Zenaria asked. The hesitation in the knight's voice told her that something was coming.

Varden shifted his position so that he could look her in the face. "I have broken my vow of celibacy. I will admit that while in lion form I was not in control of my faculties, but I broke it nonetheless. And now that we have become intimate there is no going back. There is only one way I can atone for my transgression."

Zenaria pushed away from him. "Are you trying to tell me that you are ashamed of what we did?" Furious, she got to her feet. "By the Moon and Sun, we have been intimate, as you call, it for two days. I'm so sore I can hardly walk and you talk about your honour."

"Zenaria, it is not like that," Varden said, his voice thick with emotion. "I'm just not very good at expressing myself. Of course I enjoyed our two days together. It has been the most wonderful experience of my life. But I cannot leave you like this. I love you and wish to marry you."

Love. That really complicated things the way Varden meant it. Zenaria knew enough about Kivalian culture to understand that it meant something different from the way an Erogenian meant it. Liaisons in Snow Leopard society could be anything from casual sex to very strong love relationships, but that didn't necessarily mean a permanent bonding. Even children could be raised outside relationships, as was the case with her daughter, children being considered to be the responsibility of the entire community. The problem was she was quite sure that Varden would not understand any of this. Somehow she had to find a way to explain to him that lovemaking and marriage were two quite separate things, without destroying their friendship.

"Marriage?" she said. "I am a princess of the Snow Leopard. I cannot marry without the permission of my Queen." That was a bit of a stretch, almost certainly Queen Cirilia, Zenaria's mother, would approve any relationship Zenaria chose. Warriors of the Snow Leopard did not marry for dynastic or political considerations. However, like most mothers, the Queen would probably appreciate being informed of her daughter's choice, and so it was not entirely a lie.

"Then we must return to your homeland and seek permission," Varden said. "We should ask Alzid at once."

"I cannot return home until I have completed my embassy," Zenaria said. "But I see no reason why we should part."

"I think," Varden said, "that you do not love me as I do you."

"I suspect you are right," Zenaria said. "It would not be candid of me to say otherwise, but I see no reason why we cannot remain lovers."

Varden seemed torn, as Zenaria had expected. Clearly he did not understand her reluctance to commit herself to him. To him, sex was synonymous with love; and love meant marriage. It would take time, but she was sure that she could eventually make things clear to him. She still truly loved only one man, and that was not the Kivalian knight.

"It is late," she smiled, attempting to soften the blow. "And we have made ourselves very tired. Let us sleep and tomorrow we will go to the Emperor and ask his permission to leave."

Varden held out his arms and they returned to the bed. They did not make love again, but lay together, their bodies touching.

The next morning they requested an audience with the Emperor.

Pulan agreed to see them almost at once. Apparently the fact that they were officially "Saviours of the Empire" carried a little bit of weight. When they arrived in the magnificent gardens that Junal preferred to use as his throne room both Pulan and Alzid awaited them.

"We expected that you would eventually wish to return," Alzid said. "Preparations have been made for that eventuality."

The 'preparations' appeared to be little more than greetings and gifts to Zenaria's and Varden's respective monarchs. As befitted a warrior race Zenaria was given a sword of the finest Jinguan steel to give to Cirilia. It had been charged with magical properties that made it virtually indestructible and insured that it remained razor-edged even under heavy use. It was a gift that Zenaria wholeheartedly approved of, and her delight was more than obvious.

Sir Varden's gift was a robe of the finest silk that gave its wearer the ability to instantly replenish the healing powers characteristic of a member of Sir Varden's order. It was something that would go a long way to buying him absolution for the breaking of his vow of celibacy.

The gift giving complete and the farewells said, Zenaria and Sir Varden were escorted to the hall housing the Orb of Power. "From here you will be sent back to where Junal abducted you," Alzid explained. "I expect you can make your own way home from there."

Zenaria smiled, partly because she was glad to be returning to familiar ground and partly because she suspected that the Jinguans were not particularly comfortable with two such potentially disruptive barbarians in their midst. No doubt there would be a sigh of relief when they were finally on their way.

Alzid had them stand close to the Orb and began the usual slow chant. With the Orb's power he needed no help from Pulan or Dendar. As the chant progressed the Orb began to pulse with power and Zenaria felt herself being drawn toward it like a chip of wood in a whirlpool. And then there was the almost familiar disorienting and stomach-turning sensation as the world around her disappeared.

Alzid stood looking where the warrior princess and her knight were moments before. "Farewell, Princess," he muttered. "I wish you and your lover good fortune."

Zenaria stood blinking in the bright sunlight, her sword in her hand. She did not remember drawing it, but it now seemed like a very good idea. She and Varden were standing in a wilderness setting of strange thorny trees and tall grasses. Off in the distance was a large herd of large-horned animals, but it was the bizarre creatures standing just a few hundred feet away that drew their attention.

They were the size of large huts with huge fan-like ears and two gigantic teeth that curved out and upward from their massive heads. But most extraordinary was the long flexible nose of each of the creatures that they waved about like a tentacle.

Zenaria looked at Varden. "I don't think this is Erogenia."

End of Book 2