by Amy Sumida
I had aimed for the black, knowing full well it was Meara. And my aim was true. Everyone, including myself, gaped as she fell from the sky. The spear had struck up into her skull, killing her instantly. There was no shrieks, no painful moans, she simply plummeted to the ground, crushing some wooden carts beneath her. My husbands turned their shocked faces to me, and I smirked.
“You still want me to go inside?” I asked them.
“No,” declared Arnet as he joined us. He had his gun in one hand and a lance in the other. “I want you to throw another lance, soldier,” he tossed me the spear, and then went to the stone crenelations and leaned against one. Arnet laid his gun on the stone and calmly sighted on the shrieking emerald dragon.
“That's my daughter!” my father shouted from the ramparts across from us. He had a group of knights, all holding lances (and all gawking at me), standing beside him. “I love you, my brave girl!”
“I love you too, Daddy!” I shouted back and then turned to face Malcolm with a smile.
No one was more surprised by Meara's death than her husband. King Malcolm clawed at the air in grief, roaring and spewing fire randomly. Then he circled back and headed straight for us.
“Do I even need to bother?” I teased Arnet as he focused on his prey.
“Adelysia!” my mother's shout sent a shiver of cold down my spine.
I glanced behind me and saw the Queen running up the steps to the battlements.
“Eufemia, get inside!” my father shouted at her.
“Not without Addy,” my mother kept running for me, her maids scampering behind her bravely.
“No,” I whispered as I watched Arnet turn, distracted by the shouting.
I brought the lance to my shoulder, but I was too late, Malcolm was already upon us. I thought he'd surely burn us all to cinders. I was certain we were about to die. But Malcolm had decided that such a death was too good for us, too quick. He wanted to pick us off, one by one, and tear us to pieces. Starting with my sweet Barret.
I screamed as the dagger-like talons struck my husband in his stomach, then watched Barret tumble backward. My other husbands roared denials around me, but only Arnet and I had weapons. My father and his knights were too far away to help us. My mother and her ladies were useless, dropping to the ground to scream in terror. As tears coursed down my cheeks, I threw my lance. It missed its mark, but it didn't matter because Arnet had fired at last. And Arnet never missed.
Malcolm crashed down the side of the castle wall, tumbling head over tail, to lie in a motionless heap on the rocks below. My husbands and I instantly ran down the stairs to where Bayard was already holding Barret, crying brokenly over his son. I was crying too, for the first time since I was a little girl. I just knew this had been too much happiness for me. Too much joy for one mere woman. But did Barret have to pay the price? Sweet, kind, beautiful Barret.
I dropped to the dirty ground beside Barret and laid my hand on his forehead. He was cold, his sightless eyes staring up at the sky in shock. His abdomen was a mess of blood and entrails, the stench of bowels blending with the tang of blood. Battlefield perfume, they called it. I had never thought to smell it myself, much less inhale it as it rose off my husband's body. I bent over Barret, laying my hand to his wounds, trying to put him back together. If it had been anyone else, I would have asked Barret to stitch them whole. He had told me that his needle worked on living flesh too. Barret had once sewn baby birds back together, right inside their shells, and they had been born healthy and whole.
But it was Barret lying there, dead on our wedding day, and he would be doing no more stitching.
“My son, my dear son!” Bayard wailed. “You lied to me,” he cried out to no one in particular. “You said they would live forever. You said whomever they loved would live forever. But here lies my son! Dead! Why?”
As we all gaped at Bayard, wondering at his strange words, I felt a twitching beneath my fingertips. I jerked back in shock and Bayard abruptly stopped wailing. He looked down with sudden hope. Barret's flesh started to pull back inside him, everything knitting together as if he had done the stitching himself. Blood and stench disappeared as if it never was, and soon Barret laid whole beneath us. He gasped and sat up, hands flying out to his sides.
“Barret?” I felt my jaw fall open. “How?”
“A mermaid!” Bayard screeched in delight. “Bless you, you watery woman! She did not forsake me. My boy!” He hugged his son to him, and Barret gaped at us, as shocked as we were about his resurrection.
There was a sharp scream, and then my mother fainted.
Chapter Fifteen
The invading armada must have been watching the flight of their leaders through telescopes. After the dragons were both killed, they turned their ships about and headed home. No man wanted to risk his life if he didn't have to. Still, my father sent a group of soldiers down to the beach, just in case it was a trick.
Bayard confessed his mermaid meeting to us, and what had come of it, concluding that we, his sons and I, were immortal. I would not have believed it, had I not already seen what my husbands were capable of and witnessed Barret's miraculous healing firsthand. The men were meant to have immortal lovers, as in plural, so I suppose the magic got a break with me, and only had to make one woman immortal. And yes, we are. All of us are still alive today. How else could I be here to tell you the truth of it now?
My husbands and I have lived through several lifetimes, seen amazing things, and still, we love each other as fiercely as the day we pledged our lives to each other in that stone chapel. But those are other tales, for another time, and I first need to end this one. It ends, as it began, with love.
We feasted and danced, several bards singing the tale of the princess with the hair of fire, facing down dragons in her wedding finery. How her husbands stood strong beside her, one falling to the vicious dragon's claws, only to emerge unscathed. A miracle. Magic. The foundation of our fairy tale had been constructed. But somehow it ended up wrong, like a game of telephone. It was told and retold until the result was completely different from the original. In the Grimm's fairy tale, none of the brothers married me. But in reality, we all had our happily ever after together.
It was a short celebration since many of our people were busy burying their loved ones and rebuilding their homes. My father sent men to help them, and it felt wrong to rejoice when so many were grieving. So my husbands and I retired to my bridal bower much earlier than we'd expected. I was nervous, even after slaying a dragon. There was always the possibility that I'd do something wrong, touch them incorrectly, or just plain screw up the... well, the screwing. Yes, I know your modern terms. I may have been born in another time, but I've learned how to adjust to the ages.
We had all bathed after the fight, but our wedding garments were ruined. My crown and train had been recovered in the courtyard. The crown was bent but salvageable. The train, not so much. I didn't care. They were just things. Objects. My husbands were alive and well. That was more than other women could have said that night, and I was grateful.
But still worried.
We had entered my spacious bedroom to find it not so spacious anymore. Before the massive bed were four, little, white tents. Their front panels were open, revealing a mattress within each of them, draped in white silk. Then there was a confusing collection of silk swaths hanging from the ceiling, in front of the fireplace. All the other furniture had been pushed against the walls, except for a small table which held strips of black silk and fluffy wads of cotton.
“Um...” I swallowed hard as the door shut behind Barret, and all of them fastened predatory stares on me. “How are we...?”
“We've talked this over,” Robyn looked to the other men and nodded, “and come up with a plan.”
“A plan?” I squeaked as they prowled closer.
“Four men, our appetites,” Arnet shook his head, “it's too much to ask.”
“Especially of a maiden,” Barret said gently.
�
�But we all want to be with our wife on our wedding night,” Hugin added. “It's only right.”
“And we all want to have you first,” Robyn smirked.
“So we've come up with a way to satisfy everyone,” Arnet smiled wickedly.
“We will go slowly, Addy,” Barret promised, “and make sure you're ready for what comes.”
“And when that time approaches, we will each don a blindfold,” Robyn waved to the lengths of silk on the table. “And fill our ears with cotton.”
“Then we will lay within our tents,” Hugin waved towards the tents, “and you may come to us when you are ready.”
“And start with whichever one of us, you wish,” Barret smiled. “We shall not be able to hear or see what happens, and so we won't know whom you choose to bed first.”
“And please,” Robyn sighed. “Do not tell us. Let us each believe that we are your first choice.”
“Sometimes the fantasy is more important than the facts,” Hugin nodded.
“But I will still need to...” I looked at the bulges in their breeches pointedly.
“Satisfy us all?” Arnet chuckled. “We will help you with that as well.”
“How?” I frowned.
“You'll see,” and then Robyn was on me, his hands roaming my body as his tongue invaded my mouth.
The kiss had barely begun before I was swung away, into Hugin's arms. Hugin's smiling face was the last thing I saw before my dress was pulled over my head. He kissed me quickly and passed me to Arnet, who removed my shift. Then Barret held me, his gaze flowing over the undergarments I still wore. The only bit of my finery that had survived the battle.
“Beautiful,” Barret whispered. “Thank you for wearing them.”
“Keep those stockings on,” Robyn purred in my ear. “Through all of it.”
I turned to find Robyn naked, the proud member which I'd only glimpsed before, rising between us. It was longer than I remembered, but not as thick as Arnet's, which I admired next. Arnet's shaft stuck out straight before him, as solid as he was, but shorter than Robyn's. Hugin's rod was a little slimmer than Arnet's, but still rather thick, and curved up towards his belly. Barret was as in between as ever, his shaft neither as thick as Arnet's nor as long as Robyn's. A perfect middle. I inhaled sharply. I knew the mechanics of lovemaking, and staring at them all made me wonder if it were even possible. Would I disappoint them and not even be able to fit them inside me?
“They will fit,” Robyn chuckled, as if he had read my mind.
But that's how close we had become, and it didn't surprise me at all. What surprised me was them lifting me and placing me among the hanging strips of silk. There was a thick piece which cradled my torso perfectly, and also wide swaths to hold each of my limbs at various points, allowing for freedom of movement. I was suspended in mid-air and mid-brothers. They closed in on me with wide grins.
“What is this thing?” I asked nervously.
“An invention of Barret's,” Hugin ran a hand over one of the now taut strips of silk. “Ingenious, isn't it?”
“Um...” I bit my lip.
“It's wonderful, you'll see,” Robyn promised.
Hands went everywhere at once; to my face, my breasts, my thighs. Barret started kissing me as he lifted my shift. He pulled away just long enough to divest me of it, then brought his mouth back to mine. I sighed, but then jerked when two mouths descended on my breasts, one on each crest. I couldn't see who was where, but they sucked at me eagerly as yet another man parted my thighs.
My head spun as hands kneaded my flesh and fingertips stroked my skin. They were touching me everywhere, sliding over every inch of me. Nearly every inch. I inhaled sharply when my silk panties were pulled away and replaced with someone's face. A hot tongue laved me and my thighs tensed around his head. He chuckled against my womanhood and delved deeper with his tongue. Barret pulled back to trade places with another, and I got a glimpse of who was where.
Barret traded with Arnet, who had been at my left breast. Hugin was still working my other nipple as his hands roamed the rest of my body, and Robyn was nestled firmly between my thighs. He paused to look up at me and lick his wet lips.
“You taste like my every desire made flesh,” Robyn groaned before lowering his mouth to me again.
“Don't hog her pussy, brother,” Arnet growled before claiming my mouth.
I couldn't focus on one single sensation. I was floating in heaven, lost in the stars Hugin had shown me. Falling through one of those far away galaxies. Tongues flowed down from my breasts, licking me and biting me. Fingers plucked my nipples, and Robyn feasted. My legs began to shake, desire climbing to its apex, and Robyn pulled away.
I broke Arnet's kiss to scream in frustration.
“Not yet,” Robyn chided me as he switched spots with Hugin.
Hugin gave me a wink before he dove between my legs. I moaned with him as his tongue split me. Then I jerked when I felt one of his long, elegant fingers slide inside me. He pulled it out and slid it in again, faster and faster as he licked and sucked at me. I was rocking against Hugin's face and writhing against the other men.
“Take me in your mouth, Addy,” Arnet held out his thick cock, angling my head towards it. I blinked up at him in surprise. “Open your mouth and suck it in.”
I did as he asked and my mouth stretched over his girth, my tongue rubbing the veined underside. Arnet groaned and grabbed my hair, thrusting further into me. I sighed and began to suck on him, pulling back to breathe before drawing him in again.
“Just like that,” Arnet moaned. “That's a good little princess. Suck the tip now; it's more sensitive there.”
Arnet drew himself out so I could lick at him, sucking just the head of it into my mouth. He tasted rich, a dark flavor I'd never known before. I loved it, couldn't get enough of it. I devoured him.
“Easy now,” Arnet chuckled and angled my head back so that my neck made a straight line. He eased behind me, “There, open your mouth again.”
I did as he said and he slid it in me. It was nearly too much at that angle, so hard to breathe around his mass. But damn it, I didn't care. I just gasped in breaths every time Arnet pulled out, nuzzling the velvet of his heavy sacs as they hit my face.
“Hey now, you'll choke her with that monster,” Hugin protested. “Switch with me. You know you want to taste her anyway. She's the finest thing you'll ever have in your mouth, I promise.”
Arnet growled but pulled out with a grin, and the men leaned back as Arnet grabbed my thigh and swung me around on those silk swaths so that he traded places with Hugin. Arnet looked over my slick skin, his chest heaving with his breaths, and laid his heavy palms on my thighs. He pushed them further apart and rubbed his face into me, making happy little snarls. The vibrations shivered along my flesh, and I cried out, right into Hugin's mouth. Hugin twirled his tongue with mine, and then eased back just an inch.
“Can you taste yourself on my lips?” Hugin asked. “Do you understand now, why we're so eager to consume you?”
I gaped at him. Words were lost to me, and he knew it. Hugin smiled wide and then offered me his manhood. I licked it eagerly, then leaned my head back and tried to take him in as I had with Arnet. It worked easier with Hugin, who wasn't so thick, and I tightened my lips around him as he began thrusting into my mouth. Hugin cried out as I felt Arnet's tongue pushing into me. I ground myself against Arnet. Then I moaned around Hugin and flung my arms out to grasp whatever flesh I could find. Soon, there were thrusting shafts filling my hands, and I made tight fists for them to work themselves into. Mouths returned to my nipples, sucking harder as Arnet did the same. He covered me and sucked before rubbing his chin into me. Then he spotted Hugin.
“Humph,” Arnet chuckled. “You just wanted to steal my idea,” he said before he returned to licking me.
“Getting your cock sucked is hardly a new concept, Brother,” Hugin choked out as he slid his fingers beneath my chin and pulled me closer.
Arnet just grunted i
n response, happy where he was.
“Please show a little more respect for our bride,” Robyn snapped.
“I do respect her,” Hugin moaned, “oh so damn much.”
Again, I veered close to climax. And again, the men felt it and stopped. Arnet pushed me away from him, swinging me back in the opposite direction. Faces blurred and I closed my eyes until I stopped moving. I looked down to see Barret between my legs, but he wasn't kneeling. He stood with a hand around his perfect cock and laid it against me. As his brothers licked my sensitized flesh, he bent over me, grabbing the silk for support, and began to rub his length firmly across my slick lips. I screamed, climaxing instantly, my whole body trembling. Robyn covered my mouth and drank down my pleasure as Barret continued to pump away over my flesh. I shook through a climax that seemed to last forever, and then Robyn slid his long shaft into my mouth. I sucked on it greedily, but he soon pulled it away from me. They all eased back, leaving me hanging in the silk, sated and shaking.
“Have you ever seen anything so lovely?” Robyn asked the others as they stared at me.
The brothers agreed that they had not. Then they helped me to my feet, and I stood on shaky legs as they each grabbed a length of black silk and a wad of cotton. They kissed me gently, each one of them, and then went to their tents.
“Take your time,” Arnet said as he laid down. “Look your fill for awhile and catch your breath.”
“So we won't know whom you choose,” Robyn added.
Then Robyn wrapped his blindfold over his eyes and pushed the cotton into his ears. The other men followed his lead, but Barret paused to explain one last detail.
“We are close to our satisfaction already, Addy,” Barret winked at me. “And we'll work ourselves for you, while you decide. So when you do choose, we'll be quick about it. You won't feel abused, I promise.”
