by Randi Darren
Pulling himself partway back to give her a chance to do as he’d instructed, he felt himself hit the point of no return and came.
His fingers tightened in her hair, and he could feel her pulling at him. Even moving her head back and forth a bit on her own as she sucked on him.
With each pull of her lips, he could feel another spasm as his seed filled her mouth.
Letting out a slow, shuddering breath as his climax started to fall to the downswing, he looked over to Carla.
She was watching intently, her hands clasped tightly in each another.
Her eyes went from Valeria to him as she realized he was looking at her.
Shuddering, Alex finished, though Valeria kept working at him. Her lips and tongue pulling and suckling as if she thought she could get more from him.
“Three, go ahead and turn your head to show Two your prize. Then claim it so she can watch,” Alex said, pulling himself out of her mouth before she made him hunch over from the extra attention.
He was just too damn sensitive afterward and she didn’t seem to know to stop.
Flopping down onto the sofa, he watched as Valeria blushed a deep scarlet, her head slowly turning to one side.
When she saw Carla sitting there, he imagined her poor little pain jockey’s heart probably had a fit.
I’ll need to take care of her sexually in an hour or so. Or she’ll never forgive me.
Alex grinned as Valeria opened her mouth at Carla, then visibly swallowed.
It’s certainly more fun here in this life. And about thirty times more scary as well.
With a satisfied sigh, Alex closed his eyes and sank into the sofa.
Chapter 29
Alex was sitting in a private waiting room.
Again.
They’d set out almost immediately the following morning, moving at a breakneck speed. To the point that Alex wondered if he’d need to sell the horses and buy new ones rather than try to ride them back to Brit. He didn’t think they’d recover by the time they were ready to roll out again.
This time, however, they’d prohibited Valeria and Carla from even joining him here in the waiting area.
He’d been left alone with his thoughts waiting for a private meeting with the king.
It’d been surprising when the king had agreed to grant him an audience that wasn’t in front of the court.
Which means either the king wants something from me, wants to speak plainly, or is afraid of something I’d do that could make him look bad.
But I have no idea which of the three is more concerning.
“Count Brit? His Highness is ready for you,” called a woman’s voice. Looking up, he saw her standing in the archway that led into the king’s private domain.
Alex got up and nodded his head. “My thanks. Please lead on.”
The woman turned and left the waiting area, and Alex fell in behind her.
“His Majesty just finished dealing with a most unfortunate case,” said the woman. “I’m sure he’ll welcome speaking with a member of the peerage.”
“Oh?” Alex asked curiously.
“Yes. He just condemned a rather odious little man to death. A child molester no less,” said the woman, speaking as if it were a happy occurrence. Her words in sharp contrast to her speech.
“I… I see?” Alex responded, not quite sure how to respond.
“Yes. It was all rather ghastly. A fat toad of a man by the name of Jim Papash. Apparently he had troubles in bed with his wife, and took it out on the local children.”
Now Alex was somewhat alarmed.
Maybe now isn’t the best time to try and passively threaten the king.
Then he shook his head once.
Now or never.
Just as that thought crystallized, Alex found himself entering a garden-type area. The king was sitting on a bench, seeming the part of a man hiding. He was surrounded by his personal guard, who all seemed on edge.
“Count Brit,” the king said as Alex entered. “Please, have a seat. I welcome you here. Skip the pomp and circumstance. No one to watch the two of us right now.”
Nodding his head, Alex took the bench across from the king.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Alex said, unsure how to start the conversation.
“Out with it then,” the king said, somewhat irritably. “I assume this has to do with transferring your vassalage to Tanulf.”
“Actually, no, it doesn’t, Your Majesty,” Alex said.
“Oh? Hm. What… was it you wished to speak of then?” the king asked, his demeanor shifting immediately.
“I entered a trial of combat with Count Ridge. The wager was our titles. The combatants were to be our champions, using fists.
“The late Duke Tanulf presided over it, approved it, and saw it fit to allow it to happen that very day,” Alex said, keeping the story to the facts.
“My champion defeated Ridge’s. Outright. Ridge fled the scene rather than honoring his end of the bargain, and Duke Tanulf did not uphold my victory.”
The king leaned away from Alex, his hands resting on his knees now. His eyes looked calculating, as if he were weighing the entire situation out as it was told.
“I come to you now after seeking out Duchess Tanulf. She did not uphold my victory either, and I wish to ask you for permission to claim casus belli on both the duchess and the count.
“Though I only plan on acting on the count for now, and merely seek to have your ruling on the duchess’s actions in a private way.”
The king frowned, his mouth slowly tilting to one side.
Then abruptly he shook his head and looked at Alex.
“I have never had someone tell me so plainly their wish. I was expecting a lengthy story, but you’ve cut out all the wasted bits and left me with just the steak.” The king sighed. “I regret Tanulf’s death, but it was of his own doing. As to his daughter not upholding your victory, I’m unsurprised.”
Alex nodded at that, waiting.
“I get the impression that you plan to make this an issue for Count Ridge no matter what?”
“He’s the one who tried to have me killed, several times,” Alex said. Then he paused and pressed his fingers to the pin at his collar. “On my oath, I know this to be true. He tried to have me slain. Which was the trigger for the trial at arms, which he lost.”
The king’s eyes closed and he pressed his hands to his temples.
“Well, I can certainly understand why you’ve set out on this course. I half imagine that if I decide to not uphold your claims, you’ll move even above me.”
Alex didn’t respond either way. He didn’t want to if he didn’t have to.
“You came here straight from the duchess?” the king asked.
“Yesterday.”
“And your horses are nearly blown. Yes, you really would go over me if I didn’t uphold this.
“Would you be satisfied for the time if I only upheld your claim to the count publicly?”
“I would, though I would feel better if His Majesty could see fit to uphold my claim privately for the duchess.
“For now. She and I could come to terms later on that would allow for a peaceful resolution. I’d prefer to have her as a friend than an enemy, and I have no designs on her title,” Alex added in quickly at the end.
“Fine. We’ll draw up a public writ supporting your ability to go to war with Count Ridge for his title,” the king said, waving a hand at nothing behind him. “Was that truly it though, Count Brit?”
“Yes, sire. I only sought vindication for my victory.”
“So be it, then. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll end this audience now. I’m not used to such frank conversation.”
“As you wish, Highness,” Alex said, and bowed at the waist to the king. “I thank you for your time.”
The king waved him on, paying him no more attention than that.
Now we just wait for the writ.
And we move on it.
***
An
na looked up from the table she was sitting at when Alex opened the door.
Her face split wide into her simple smile when she saw him.
“Husband!” she said, getting up quickly. She practically skipped to him.
Alex couldn’t help but grin at the sight of a grown woman throwing sensibility out the window and bouncing her way to him like that.
Then she was there hugging tightly to him, her face pressed into his chest.
“How did it go?” she asked, her voice muffled against him.
“The duchess did nothing for us.”
“Daddy said she wouldn’t in his most recent letter. She wants you to bed her, he thinks. She’s pretty but I don’t like her, and I’d hate to have her as a wife,” Anna said, thumping his chest lightly with a balled fist. “I’d never let you clean her up when you were done.”
“Oh? Is that your way of having your revenge? Not letting me clean her up?”
“Yes,” she said, then lifted her head up to look at him. “That or I’d feed her Mother’s Bane every day without her knowing.”
“Well, aren’t you spiteful.” Alex grinned at her. “I love it.”
Anna pouted at him. “The marriage wouldn’t be bad for us, but I’d probably end up fighting her at every turn for seniority. You’d have to promise to treat me as the senior wife or I’d…. I’d… I’d not hug you anymore,” Anna said, nodding her head once.
“Well, we can’t have that now, can we? As far as the duchess is concerned, I have no plan to marry her, so worry not. I’d rather not get involved in her politics.”
Smiling at him again, Anna pushed her face back into his chest.
“Daddy said you’d have to probably leave to go fight again.”
How does your father keep so close to all this information? I haven’t even met him, yet he somehow manages to know everything that’s going on. On top of that, he slips in and out without me ever meeting him.
“He’s right, of course. I want to put Ridge in the ground. Before he can try again to do the same to me.”
“Ok. Holly left,” Anna said, her voice dropping in volume. “She said she’d write me, though.”
“It’s alright. She wanted out and you were right,” Alex said, stroking her back tenderly.
“I know. But now I have to work on finding you a wife of the peerage before someone tries to force it on you. I might hold a ball or two; is that ok?”
“Sure, but I forbid you to spend any of your own money.
“And speaking of money… why did you buy so many coffins?”
“They were on sale,” Anna said, as if that explained everything.
Alex closed his eyes and said nothing.
Several hours later, after getting Anna to promise not to purchase anything simply because it was on sale, Alex met with Dave, Max, Rudolph, and Dan in his study.
“Gentleman. We’ll be attacking Count Ridge head on. I have a writ of support from the king”
All four men nodded their heads.
“Are we ready for this though? We’ll only have one chance to attack with the element of surprise. Before he has a chance to prepare or get his supplies together.
“How do we stand?”
The other men turned to Max, who seemed to be considering his boots as they did so.
“My lord, I rotated the company through the standing army and broke all the groups up. We now have an even level of veterans throughout, but they’re not trained as units yet.
“The conscripts who signed on permanently, which was almost all of them, were equally dispersed throughout.”
Max chuckled and held up his hands in front of himself.
“Apparently your efforts to keep them alive, get them trained, and pay them for their service struck a chord. All that free equipment didn’t hurt either, nor did you prohibit them from looting the enemy dead. All in all, quite a few came back rather much more well to do.”
Looting the dead, huh? I didn’t even think of that.
“The coinage we looted from them puts us well ahead of any type of pay concern, and the gear we took from the dead—the stuff we didn’t give to the conscripts—helped to greatly offset our training costs,” Max said.
Alex nodded his head at all that, not quite sure if he was supposed to respond yet.
“I suppose what I’m saying is we could go on the attack with a reasonable expectation of success. Did I miss anything?” Max said, lifting his head and looking to his lieutenants.
“The mounted infantry has been working on becoming a cavalry,” Dan said. “As well as… less than honorable… activities. Consider me an inspired man by your orders, sire.”
“Honor is a grand thing for the dead, and a poor substitute for winning to the living,” Alex said. “Good. Ah… forgive me for the question Dave, but… I’d like to hire another company and integrate them the same way we did you.
“Any recommendations?”
“Sire… you want to expand the army… again?” Max asked.
“We have the finances for it, and an army can easily convert other resources into assets. Like, I don’t know, taking over an entire county. Afterward, we’ll need that many men again to hold the new territories.
“I’d rather purchase our troops once rather than having to hire new guards afterward.”
Dave and Dan were nodding their heads at that, but Max looked only partially sold on the idea.
“While we’re out in the field, I expect you all to raid military installations for supplies, but don’t touch the citizenry. Not at all,” Alex said, putting steel into his voice. “They’ll be our subjects after. We must win them over before the first sword strike falls. Is that clear?”
“Of course, sire,” Max said. The other men nodded their heads in agreement.
“Dave? Recommendation?” Alex prodded.
“I… that is—”
“Make sure they can work with you, as you’ll be their senior in this,” Alex said, wondering if he was concerned about who would be best, versus who the best unit was.
Dave grinned at that. “I understand. Then I’d choose Powell’s cavaliers. They’re mostly cavalry and heavy foot. They do have an entire unit of engineers though.
“They’d be best for siege work and raiding. Which it sounds like we’ll be doing in equal measure. And I can work with Andrew. Have before.”
“Great, get him a message as quick as can be. Have a backup pick in case he’s already engaged elsewhere.
“Let’s work through some planning now, unless you have something else you’d like to draw my attention to?”
There was no dissension to that, so Alex pulled a map from beside him that he’d prepared in advance.
“The county of Ridge is named for a literal ridge that runs through the middle of it,” Alex said, smoothing the map out in front of everyone.
“Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, we share a small border with Ridge. My understanding is it’s actually a rather wide highway my family built back when we were still dukes,” Alex said, pointing to the section of the map. “That ridge splits them in half for us and puts the upper portion facing the wild lands to the south.”
“Most combat there has always been in the south. It’ll be much harder to take and will probably be his last hold out,” Max said, peering at the map.
“Right. That’s why we’ll be hitting it first. Their outposts are all along the edge of the wild land borders. They don’t have anything facing us, at least in the south.
“If we do this right, we can probably already be falling on the castle town of… I can’t remember the name… whatever it is, before they know we’re even in the county.
“And since we share such a small border with them, and a vassal of Gaelis is holding the other side, I doubt Ridge’ll be able to mount a counter attack into Brit.
“Just in case, I already dispatched an anonymous courier to Gaelis’s vassal warning them that Ridge might try to threaten their border.”
Alex shrugged as he thought about it.
“If it works out for us, great; if not, no loss. I’d like to keep your newly minted mounted cavalry in country, Dan. As a screening force and to watch for any movement from Ridge. As well as to keep a supply train corridor open for us.”
“I’d love to see him try to take the road and hold it,” Dan said. “We’ll just use hit-and-run tactics again. Harry them. Fire their supplies. Whittle them down till they bleed from everywhere.
“A monument to the stupidity of mankind, right?”
Alex snickered at that. “Right. And with that in mind, I plan on having Powell’s cavalry moving around the countryside to keep Ridge from having an easy time sieging us.
“If anything, I’d love it if he did. We could siege them as they siege us. That being said, plan to have six to twelve months of supplies taken into that city with the name I forgot before we get cornered. Plan to feed any civilians who get caught up with us as well. Ration everything.”
“Sire,” Dave said, looking rather uncomfortable.
“Yes? Speak plainly; tell me if I’m missing something or doing something stupid. Strategy I understand, tactics I don’t.”
If anything, that comment just made Dave look even more frustrated.
“Do you think it that likely Ridge will do just what you said?”
“He doesn’t exactly seem to have the most flexible mind, so… yes. Though we’ll not bet everything on that. Hence Powell and his cavalry in the field, and Dan with his people waiting just in case.
“Oh, and let’s get another group of conscripts brought up to pad out our numbers. Maybe we’ll get more recruits out of it again. Same contracts as last time.
“Unless there’s something else, I’d suggest we all go about our business.”
Alex looked to each man, then clapped his hands together.
“Great. Thank you, gentlemen.”
Getting up, each soldier filed out the door, none of them speaking or looking completely at ease.
Valeria leaned forward beside him and rested an arm on his shoulder.
“They don’t know what to make of you having us here, Master,” she said, watching him from his side.
“And why’s that, Three?” Alex asked, glancing back over his shoulder. Riley, Carla, and Nannie were all there.
