The Inquisitor Ch. 26

The princess awoke with such a start that she nearly tumbled off the side of her bed onto the cold stone floor. Her head swam with the remnants of the strangest dream. Her mind struggled to recapture it as it drained out into the waking world. She could not help but feel strange, as if the dream had come from the outside, instead of her own mind.

She sat up, gathering the blankets around her naked form. She looked about for Chrysanthemum, but noted her side of the bed had not been slept in. In an instant, the events of the preceding night rushed in upon her. Though she called out for the maid, her heart knew there would be no answer.

Somehow, she knew she was gone. It was as if a piece of her own mind was missing, though she'd never noticed it before. A hollow dull spot in her mind; the site of a strange connection to her lovely Chrysanthemum, now somehow seemed severed.

She bit her lip and fought back bitter tears. Though she wept silently, her resolve doubled, her own oaths strengthened, She pulled the blankets and furs tight around her, gathering her will to her.

After a time, she calmed, and her tears slowly faded. She thought on the old man's strategem, retraced the steps she should take. She sought to tie all of the tiny threads she had discovered in her time with Chrysanthemum and her master into a solid line. A hundred directions branched out, and reformed as she contemplated the little information she had.

At last she slid from her bed, pulling a soft blanket with her, wrapping it over her breasts. She paced for a few moments, trying to decide what tangent to follow, before padding softly into the bathing chamber. Again, a deep sadness washed over her. No warm bath awaited her, no supple maid and her delights before her, only empty space, cold tile and stone. Shaking these tragedies away, she made for a small rounded niche in the far wall.

The niche was small, and concave at its back, just large enough to hold a lantern. She examined the floor of the niche, checking carefully for any signs of disturbance. One of the bricks composing the base of the niche had a broken corner, its missing edge just large enough for a woman's fingertip to barely grasp. Catching hold of it's corner, she wiggled the brick until it slid out of it's row with a grating sound. Behind the brick lay a small hollow, not very deep or wide. Within the hollow lay a small object, wrapped in muslin. She quickly retrieved it and returned the brick, concealing the clandestine hollow.

She hurried from the bathing chamber, fearful somehow someone may have observed her. She returned to the bed and unwrapped the object given her by the old man at the outlander's camp. Lying in her pal, surrounded by aged muslin, was a small iron key, bearing a strange seal at its standard which she did not recognize. She stared down at it for a time, deciding upon her next move.

- - -

Very gradually did she perceive a familiar sound. Though she had failed to notice them, the sound of chimes reached her ears. She was surprised she had not noticed them, as she usually was struck by them with such potency that she could scarce contain herself.

How could this be? Had she become so accustomed to her chimes that she noticed them not? As she listened, she discovered the chimes were very faint, almost whispers. A momentary anger boiled up within her, thinking how indeed cruel the master must be to sound her chimes of pleasure so soon after their devastating loss of Chrysanthemum.

But as she listened, she began to discern these chimes were not the same as her own. These particular notes held a much higher register, and intoned much quicker than the ones she obeyed.

All at once, images streamed unbidden inter her mind. All around the upper portions of the castle, women were obeying the chimes. In rooms lined with silks, in chambers of stone, in bathing tubs similar to her own, the women of the castle were obeying the chimes. These chimes were for them, yet she had never heard them before, nor could she account for the flood of sensual thoughts which ran through her mind. All over the castle, women had begun to pleasure themselves, in so many ways, as the chimes sounded.

The princess marveled that she was not so affected as they. When her own chimes sounded, she found it impossible to disobey, so strong was the yearning they produced. So it was with the women of the castle. Through her mind's eye, she could make out many of the ruby throated bond-stones of the queen, glowing hot against the flushed throats of her ladies-in-waiting. Fewer still, and more faintly, she could perceive other women of the castle, servants and noblewomen alike, who wore no bond. But even they seemed powerless against the chimes.

The princess wondered from where the chimes came. Could this be the work of her wicked liege, or another marvel of her master? How had this new talent sprang upon her, the sight through walls and thoughts and air? What was the cause of all this? To these questions, her thoughts answered not. And still the chimes tolled on.

The entire castle was a flood of erotic rush assaulting her senses. Through her strange new sight, flickering images of women together, mouths upon straining hardened nipples. Here a woman slid finger after finger into her servant, here another pinched her own nipples cruelly. Here a woman on all fours, her hand reached behind herself, driving something into her faster and faster. Here a woman spanking another with a silver brush, her another writhing upon a bed. Here an older dowager, hiking up her skirts to get at herself, while her astonished husband looks on.

From all around come moans of pleasure, the slick sound of fingers and suckings. In her mind, she catches another woman swallowing a huge cock, gorging herself on his spurting seed. Here another riding hard upon a smaller cock, jolting herself down upon it, her breasts jostling up and down. Here an image of many fingers sliding into a woman from behind, here a thought of hot semen flying upon hardened nipples, into waiting mouths.

The images and thoughts and sounds inundated her, flooding over her in wave after wave. She held up her hands to her ears and closed her eyes, but still on they came. Rising and rising, the moans and wails and shrieks of pleasure built and built and built and built...

And then... nothing.

All at once the chimes ceased, the moans and spasms dying away as the echoes faded. The images sank down within her, until at last she was free of them... save but one. Her mind's eye the image that remained was of the Queen slamming an enormous phallis into herself, crying out in frustration. In spite of her wonder at the tidal storm of lusts which had overrun her, the Princess smiled as she beheld the Queen seeking to fulfill her need, finding only vexation. At last this image too slowly faded, the Queen still writing upon her bed, driving the tool deeper and deeper into herself.

As the last thoughts died away, the princess felt dizzy and nearly swooned, quickly sitting upon her bed before she fell. What was the meaning of all that? She wondered. Did such an occurrence happen every day? How could this new talent, this second sight have come upon her? Her head swam and her nipples tingled and her belly growled. What was happening?

The princess sat upon her bed, still naked from her night's sleep, her sex become aroused as her mind replayed the images she'd beheld. Her hands unconsciously slid to her breasts, her fingertips flicking her nipples into hardened points.

Suddenly, her massive chamber door swung open, and in strode the robed Inquisitor. Beneath his arm he carried a small basket of fruits and cheeses and breads. What struck her most about him was his marked appearance, a crispness to his outline that made her eyes hum. The mane of thick hair which just last night has been shot through with greys and whites was now dark and silken.

Catching her gaze, he merely smiled.

"I have brought some foods so you make break your fast." Said he, bowing slightly. "Doubtless you are famished."

"Yes, my lord." Said she, rising from the bed, a fur blanket wrapped loosely around her heavy breasts. "But first, please... where is my love? Where is my dear maid?"

To this his eyes turned grey and cold, and he looked away quickly.

"Ask not, my princess... For I can provide no gentle answer. Know you not in your heart what has happened?" he said, his voice very low. Sadly, the princess nodded, already knowing his answer.

"Is there no hope for her, my lord? Nothing we can do... no deep magick to bring her back?" Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, her yes imploring her master for solace.

"No, my dearest princess." Said he, his eyes matching her sadness behind his filigreed mask. "She is lost to us for a time... Perhaps she may return to us... but I cannot say how."

"For now, we must wrestle our wills from sadness. We must now bend them to our own purposes, though they despair." His back straightened as he spoke this last, and his eyes resumed their keen sparkle. "Come now, princess.. Put aside these thoughts. We have other matters to attend this day, both you and I."

Yes, my lord..." said the princess. "I will dress and begin immediately. And you, my lord? Are you to accompany me?"

"Alas, princess. I cannot. I have other matters to attend. The Queen has summoned me, and I will doubtless be bound to sate her, now that the tide has risen so."

"The tide, my lord?" she asked. "Ahhhhh, the chimes... the women... was that your doing, my lord?"

A very sly smile crossed his smooth lips. "But of course, my love." Spoke he. "Think you that your own tolling is the only music I have created here? Are all of my machines in the next rooms simply for mine and your pleasure alone." He chuckled.

"No my love, there is purpose in all that I do." He said, turning serious. "Think you not that our Queen would not have summoned you this very morning? Know you not how she wishes to gloat over her triumph, to watch your tears fall for our lost Chrysanthemum? Is not tonight the very night of the High Moon? Are there not Games this very afternoon, followed by the Rite of the Moon, and the Revel itself?"

"The time grows short princess. You have precious few moments before the Queen summons you to sit beside her, to offer your very body as prize to the Champions." The princess hurriedly dressed as her spoke. "My chimes have created for you only a hairs-breadth of time, that you may discover what you can to help us. All depends upon you, my love. You must hurry. My chimes will have surely stirred our Queen into a fury of lust, and she will have to find release very soon."

"She must expel the pressure which my music and the wails of the castle's ladies have built up inside her. She must release and act normal. She too has a strategem for today, and if she succeeds, none of the outlanders will ever leave our gates. But in order to succeed, she must appear calm, as if all is well."

"She'll not be able to do that with all the desire this morning's chimes have produced in her. She will seek me out, and I shall sate her upon my machines. This will take some time, and you must use every moment of it. Once she is released, I have no doubt you shall be the first she calls to her. And when she does, you'll have precious little time."

He paced quietly as she finished dressing, wolfing down a bit of cheese and bread. At last, she grasped the iron key and stood before her master.

""Know you what to look for?" he asked. His eyes looked into her, and in them she could see his hope hung by the merest shred.

"Yes, my lord." Said she. The lie rolled off her tongue with too much a quickness, and his eyes turned away.

"Go then, my princess. Make haste and set you to your task. If you should find what we seek, bring it straightaway. I shall use all skill to forge a weapon... perhaps it will be enough."

With that, he turned and left the princess alone in her chambers. She listened as his bootfalls died away in the distance.

Taking a bite of an apple, a bit of white sand tickled upon her tongue.