by M H Ryan
“Right away,” Pop Master turned and hobbled toward the storage room. She wasn’t sure if his bones or the floor creaked as he moved. There was nothing right away from Pop Master, but she wanted some alone time with Barkly anyways. Especially with Pop’s habit of not knocking. If he walked into what Cupcake did, she’s not sure if his heart was strong enough to handle it.
It wasn’t like she had much of a choice in her employees. Pop was her only current staff member, but she remembered a time when three maidens were there just to help dress her and comb her blond hair. She sighed. She didn’t want those things back, not really. What she wanted was prosperity for her kingdom and freedom from the Grand Kingdom to allow for such luxuries. That had once felt about as viable as holding onto a handful of smoke. Now, with Barkly, she dared a moment of hope.
She went to the stairs and started jogging up them. She reached the top and went to her bedroom doors. Inside her room, she glanced at the mattress on the wood frame built from bits of lumber left from the old castle. The room also held a closet and nightstand next to the bed. A few magical globes lit the place up as there were no windows to bring in the light or show her the countryside views she saw at Cupcake’s.
She carried Barkly to the bed and laid him down on top of the comforter. She felt the fabric and frowned. Then she went to her nightstand and pulled out a red flask. She took the lid off and then filled the cap with the red liquid.
Sitting on the bed next to Barkly, she cradled the back of his head with one hand while pouring the shot into his mouth. It went down his throat and then he coughed, swinging his arms out in front of him.
“What?” he yelled and then stopped fighting the air to look around. “Where am I?”
“My room. I brought you here.”
“Cupcake shot me,” Barkly said, touching his lips. “You used a heal shot on me?”
“Sure. Can’t have you lying around doing nothing,” she said.
“Those are rare. Especially for a kingdom this…” he stopped.
“Poor?”
“Less fortunate,” he said, rubbing his head. “I can’t believe you saved me.”
“You save those you care about.”
“I’m glad you did, thank you.” He laughed, looking around the room.
“What’s funny?” she asked.
“I’m just glad you don’t have a pink meltdown palace like Cupcake. As you said, you could hear my balls shrinking.” He laughed, coughed, and then grabbed his head in pain.
“Easy, Barkly,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I kind of liked her place and you didn’t seem to mind it either at the time.”
Barkly looked at her and then he really looked at her, spending his time moving from toe to head.
“Yeah, that was fun up until it wasn’t.” He rubbed his head again. “What happened? How did we get here?”
“I carried you through the city, fought a dozen guards, one senior citizen, and a few shoppers… but I got you here.”
“You fought through the city while carrying me?”
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s not like I could have left you to Cupcake. She didn’t seem to be in the let’s-talk-this-shit-out kind of mood back there.”
“She’s going to come for me. You know that, right?” Barkly asked.
“Oh, I’m counting on it.”
“She’s powerful, Bowsette. Like stupidly so. Ever since she got back from the kidnapping, she’s been rounding up magical items, increasing her own power and… testing mine.”
“What do you mean, she’s testing you?”
“Not testing me, but, tested on me. She’s given me different plants and potions to see how I would change or react to them. She kept talking about preparing for something. I zone out when she starts ranting, to be honest.”
“Whoa, she’s been experimenting on you like a fucking Volgard?”
“No, nothing that terrible. More like different roots and liquids from around the kingdom. Me and Soto took turns and sometimes, it was kind of interesting to see what our bodies could become. Did you know a Diga root will enlarge any part of my body it comes in contact with and if I swallow it in a liquid form, I double in size?”
“Hmm, I can see how that could be a fun thing to play around with,” she gazed at his crouch.
“I never thought of that,” Barkly said.
“You fucking liar.”
He laughed. “We were under strict supervision at the time, so I couldn’t do experiments on myself.”
“Too bad you don’t have any on you,” she said. “We could do some testing.”
“I have something similar…” Barkly said, looking around. “Where’s my tool belt?”
“Uh, I left that in Cupcake’s room.”
“Oh no,” Barkly said. “I wasn’t just carrying tools in there, I had the roots, potions, and even a Huckle Berry. Without that stuff, I’m just… me. Cupcake’s going to kill me.”
“Listen.” She kneeled down in front of him as he sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m here to judge you and Cupcake’s relationship. It was a sham and you were her pet, at best.”
“I know it was, well except the pet part, but it’s more complicated than that and now you are caught up in this. I should have never put you in that situation.”
“I’m a big girl. I know what I’m doing.”
“You should try to work something out with Cupcake. She is not without reason.”
“I doubt she will be willing to talk and it won’t be long before the warp gate is back up and she sends in her army.”
“I’ve seen her show mercy,” Barkly said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“You’re sweet,” she said and smiled.
She saw why Cupcake wanted him around and wondered what his best friend, Soto was like. Were they made from the same clay? It was a strange knowing the monster of a warrior this man could become, but that, mixed with the sweet and curious creature before her, made him sexy.
“Now you’re staring at me,” Barkly said.
“I like you,” she said and a bit of red hit his cheeks.
She was starting to wonder if he was doing it on purpose, but she was attracted to his awkwardness. After the war, mostly it was just cranky old people and kids left behind. People that had seen too much or hadn’t seen enough, but Barkly fell in the middle. She could see the pain in those brown eyes, but he still had fire in them as well, a fire for her too.
“Why don’t you come over here,” Barkly said and patted the spot next to him on the bed.
“Are you feeling better?” she asked.
“Well enough and I think we left some unfinished business back at the last princess room.”
“Why don’t I get out of this formal attire, and put something fun on first?” Bowsette said and went to her walk-in closet.
She bought this piece of lingerie as mostly a joke but now, she was happy to have it. She slipped off her dress and stepped out of it. Then she pulled the lingerie over her head. She adjusted the bottom that hugged her tightly and reached just past her ass. Pulling her tits out a tad and playing with the front, she felt like she achieved maximum cleavage. Not that it mattered too much because the sheer, dark grey fabric hid her goods about as well as colored glass.
“Oh my God,” Barkly said.
“You like it?” she asked, posing next to the door.
“I have no words for how amazing you look.”
“I’m sure you can think of a few,” Bowsette said, stepping toward Barkly.
“You are a goddess and if you were on my world, everyone would worship you.”
“Tempting, how did you get here?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember much of what happened before I got here. I just woke up on the castle floor as… your uncle was kidnapping Cupcake.”
“Fascinating.”
“Things do come back to me though. I remember more each month.”
“Well, I hope you don’t forget this.”
&nb
sp; He still was sitting on the bed and she walked up to him and stopped, keeping her chest right in his face. His arms wrapped around her back and ran up to her shoulders as he buried his face in her soft girls. He kissed her through the fabric and then ran his hands down her back and along her ass, finding the end of the nightie and the beginning of her bare skin. He worked his way back up, under the lingerie and cupped her butt with both hands.
She backed up and pushed him away.
“What?” Barkly asked.
“How do I know you aren’t just playing me?” Bowsette asked.
“What? I wouldn’t do that.”
“What about Cupcake?”
“We… I don’t know. This is happening pretty fast.”
“I want you to be with me, Barkly, but I need you to do the things I want.”
“Do you want me to kiss you… down there again?” he asked, leaning forward with wide eyes of anticipation.
“I do, but I’m talking about this Cupcake crap.”
He sighed, swallowed, and looked her in the eyes. “What about her?”
“I need your help.”
“Cupcake isn’t just a pretty, pink princess, she’s become a warrior and if she’s coming, we need to get out of here.”
“And leave them to deal with my kingdom as they see fit?”
“Better to live another day, Bowsette. I can’t live if you die.” He slid his hands up her back and kissed her stomach.
It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, but it was close enough.
The door handle clicked and the door swung open.
“Come in, Pop,” she said. “No need to knock.”
He entered the room but wasn’t a carrying a serving tray. He wasn’t holding anything.
“Princess Bowsette, you have an emissary from the Grand Kingdom looking for an audience.”
“Already?” she asked. “Oh, just tell me it isn’t fucking Banana?”
“No,” Pop master said with a grimace. “It’s Master Soto.”
Chapter Seven
Bowsette sauntered down the hall toward the lower living room Pop had put Soto in. What a little bonus she had been delivered. She knew at some point they’d connect, but it was a more of a down the road kind of thing. Cupcake must have left details out for her recount of events to Banana, because she doubted she’d let him come here if she knew what went down with her and Barkly. Or maybe they were so confident in the commanding Rod, that they were arrogant enough to do something so brazen.
She opened the door and found Soto standing near a lava drip. Mostly just a hole in the wall that had a steady stream of the bright, liquid rock, dumping into the drain below and sending it back to the main river nearby.
He hadn’t looked back and when he finally did, he stumbled back, nearly falling against the lava drip. It singed his yellow sweater and he brushed his shoulder, as if it was on fire.
Bowsette looked at herself and realized she hadn’t changed from her lingerie. Oh well, screw it.
Soto stared at her, not speaking as if some sort of trance. A similarity both of the alien men shared. Impure thoughts, she was sure. It wasn’t strange to have people look at her in interesting ways, but her people never looked at her the way these two men did. Perhaps, Barkly was right, she would be worshipped in their world.
“Are you okay?” Bowsette asked.
He nodded and then glanced down at her body so quickly that she thought she’d missed it until she saw the strain in his eyes. He went back to staring at her forehead as if they had entered into an unsaid scalp staring competition.
“Let me get you a drink,” she said and walked over to the low table, poured a glass of water with a vial hidden in her hand, a couple drips and then she slid the drink closer to him.
He took the drink and nodded thanks.
“Me’ya a fool for’za sure, so sorry’s about thee’ya intrusion,” he said with that bizarre accent she’d heard from the kingdom morning show.
“Dude, no,” Bowsette said.
“What do you’za say’za no to?”
“What the bizarre fuck are you doing?” Hearing it live, in front of her, made it seem all the more ridiculous. “Drop the accent, okay? Barkly told me about it.”
He took a deep breath and looked around the room and then back to her, grabbing another glance at her body before returning to the forehead competition. “Okay, good, because talking that way is exhausting.”
“If you said one more sentence in that accent, I was going to feed you to my lava,” she said and they both laughed.
He cleared his throat and smoothed out his amused face to a flat, emotionless expression. “I am here under the official capacity of the Royal Kingdom and Princess Cupcake and Princess Banana to arrange for the return of Barkly and the surrender of… you.”
She clapped her hands and then covered her mouth. “I’m sorry, but to be honest, I kind of want you to say that in that accent now. Wait, no, how did you rehearse that, in your regular voice or in that accent?”
“The voice in my head is mostly my normal voice. When I hear the accent in my head, it scares the shit out of me.”
She laughed and shook her chest just a little.
He took a more extended look this time and then couldn’t look at her at all for a few seconds as he sucked his lips in, maybe he was biting them. Then he downed the whole glass of water and set it back on the table.
Soto was taller than Barkly by a lot, but his skinny frame somehow made him seem smaller than Barkly. She would have to fatten Soto up, but he had a cute look to him. His hair was a dirty blond and longer than Barkly’s reaching past his ears and falling over his forehead. Kind of shaggy, but she had the urge to run her hands through it. His yellow shirt was an obvious Banana addition, but he had the sleeves rolled up and the black slacks and shoes looked good on him. Soto and Barkly shared their love of monograms as Soto had a black embroidered S on his shirt pocket.
Plus, there was always the other side to these two boys. They could transform in fantastical and terrifying ways. She imagined Soto had been sent with at least something that he could take to protect himself. A forbidden berry she guessed.
“Since you are here in such an official capacity, directly from two princess’s, I want to welcome you to the Trench Kingdom. I am Princess Bowsette.” She bent down in a deep bow.
“Um, thank you for the welcome, Princess,” he said and she wondered what kind of heat was producing the sweat on his forehead.
“Now, that we have introductions out of the way, we can discuss why you are here.”
“As I said, the return of Barkly and your… arrest, I guess, back to the Grand Kingdom.”
“Arrest me? For what?”
He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. “For starters, you kidnapped my best friend and hurt a few guards on your way out.”
“Pretty sure I killed them.”
“Yeah, that. They are fairly pissed at you and Cupcake is forming her army right now. Tomorrow morning, they will be in the Trench, looking for you and him. You’re just lucky they don’t have time to awaken the Recktfuls and Volgards.” Good to know. “Listen, I don’t really want to see you get hurt, why don’t you just give me Barkly and I’ll just say you weren’t here or you ran away.”
“You’d lie to them for little old me?” She touched her chest.
“Little old you?” He laughed. “You escaped the royal kingdom while carrying the fiancé of Cupcake, for all to see. So I am afraid… I have to demand you give me my friend back. Please.”
Bowsette wasn’t used to demands being placed on her. She kind of liked his assertiveness, but she had to show him something to shake the story he’d been fed. She took out the magical eye and walked closer to him. He had his hand in his pocket and held out his other hand, crouching as if he was going to attack.
“Stay back. I don’t want to hurt you,” Soto said.
She rolled her eyes, put one hand on her hip and showed him the magical eye in her oth
er hand. “You need to see this.”
“What is it?”
“The truth of what happened, but I have to warn you, it’s not a kid-friendly video, if you know what I mean.”
“I’m afraid I don’t. You’ll have to show me,” Soto said.
He relaxed and motioned for her. Closer to him, she saw his finely pressed clothes and the way his nails were cut and smooth. She moved in closer to him, getting scents of soap mixed with an underlying floral scent. Many signs that Banana had dug her fingers into this man, but he could have also been into looking good and dang, he was nearly as tall as her.
“Just to warn you, this is starring me in a private situation. Is that okay?” Bowsette asked.
“If you think I need to see it, I should,” he said.
The image projected out from the magical eye. She moved her hand across the image, bringing it to the point where she and Barkly were on the bed.
“Whoa, this has Barkly in it—”
She paused it. “I want you to see this, please.”
He leaned forward, squinting. “Are you on Cupcake’s bed?”
“Just let it play out.” She played the video.
Her bare body showed on the projection as she and Barkly played around, kissing and touching. Soto leaned forward, his mouth open and she could hear his breaths now. She didn’t think he had blinked once. So he liked to watch, something she found interesting. She hadn’t really had that many sexual exploits, but sex was more common in the Trench Kingdom than others. She was raised around it, knew about it and most of her family members held many partners. Especially the royal families. She had a cousin that had seven husbands.
“I’m not sure why you’re showing me this,” Soto said in a breathless whisper.
“Just wait for it.”
She watched herself fall back on the bed. Her large breasts jiggling and then she pressed them together. The look of passion on Barkly’s face made her smile. Wow, she hadn’t ever recorded herself in this way, but even she was getting turned on by the movie.
Barkly’s hands were exploring her and his head dipped below her waist as she moaned in pleasure. Soto shook as if he had the chills and that’s when Cupcake entered the room.
“Watch what she does with no provocation,” she said.
