How I Became Marquis de Carabas

A new take on an old tale. All characters are over the age of 18.

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I well remember the day I first noticed her watching us bathing in the river near the castle.

On hot summer afternoons, our father sometimes let my older brothers and me leave our chores at the mill for an hour or so and run down to the river to cool off and have a bit of fun. He was kind to us, father, as he aged. I think he knew that, when he soon died and left us parentless and poor, life would be hard on all of us. He made sure we had some little time for fun while we could.

Jon, the oldest of us, was always serious, taking care we didn't stray from our chores for too long or get in the way of nobles passing by. Mont, the middle, led the mule, who he always treated kindly, laden with flour to drop at the baker's on the way to the river. I brought up the rear, with Puss always padding at my side, stopping to catch the odd mouse as we made our way through the dusty town.

Regardless of our different dispositions, when we reached the quiet bend in the river outside town, below the castle wall, we couldn't restrain our joy. We'd tear off our clothes and leap, naked and sweaty and grimy, into the cool waters, tumbling and wrestling and laughing. When we'd exhausted our energy, we'd clamber up the banks and flop down on the grass under the trees, chomping on fallen apples and staring into the blue sky, letting the sun brown our bare skin and relax our wiry frames. In our hard lives, where work in the fields and the mill from dusk to dawn was the daily reality, with no mother to love us and a tired, ageing father to worry about, this was a small dose of heaven.

I'd often seen faces peering down from the small windows in the castle wall as we swam and rested. A few times I thought I'd seen the face of the princess - a beautiful young woman of my own age whom I'd worshipped from afar when I saw her on celebration days - briefly passing by, but I was never sure.

That afternoon, I remember glancing up at the castle wall and, all of a sudden, locking eyes with her. I knew instantly it was Princess Charlotte. There could be no doubt. And I knew, just as certainly, deep inside me, that she wasn't just glancing down as she passed by. She was staring at us - no, not us, me - greedily drinking in the sight of my naked body as if parched.

Now, girls had often looked at me with interest. I knew I was blessed with the kind of face people admired - deep green eyes framed by high check bones; wavy, uncontrolled, chestnut-coloured hair; and a large, smiling mouth filled with teeth I, unlike most of my class, took great care of. But this look, taking in my whole naked body, was quite different.

I'd enjoyed stolen kisses and fumbled play with girls in the hay, of course. But I'd never felt a jolt like Princess Charlotte sent through me that afternoon. It hit me in my head, my chest and my cock. Instantly, my member swelled, twitched, and hit my stomach as I, equally greedy, drank in the sight of her staring at me.

Mortified by my aberrant cock, I was about to turn onto my stomach when Puss, lying by me cheek, hissed in my ear. "Don't move, master! Let her watch! Let her watch!"

Now Puss had been my most trusted friend since Mother died. He often gave me advice which seemed at first odd but never failed in the end. So, embarrassed though I was, I lay there longer, my manhood throbbing on my tight, muscley belly, eyes locked with the subject of my dreams in the castle window not 15 yards away across the river and above me.

After what felt like an age, with Puss purring in my ear, I finally heard the whispered direction "Now stand up, walk to the water and bathe. You can take care of yourself underwater and return more civilised in time to go home."

It was a quiet afternoon at the river - just Jon, Mont and me there, and the brothers both dozing - else I would never have dared follow his instructions. But Puss was always right.

Still staring into Charlotte's eyes, I rose, walked towards her and the river, and slowly submerged myself. I was so aroused by then that one caress of my hand while looking at my love was all it took for me to reach completion. Charlotte looked curious, then smiled wickedly at my obvious state, nodded once, and left.

Suddenly both bereft and mortified at what I had done, I stumbled out of the river, pulled my clothes onto my wet body and ran for home, head pounding with nightmares of the Kingsguard coming to behead me, or Princess Charlotte never looking at me again. I didn't know which was worse. If the latter, then the former would be a relief indeed!

As I lay in bed that night, after a distracted dinner and finishing my chores in the house and the mill, Puss came to me. I shoved him away in anger, but he was very insistent, in that inimitable feline way, and came to sit on my chest.

"Trust me, master, trust me. Am I not always right? You are safe while ever the Princess admires you. And, who knows, maybe this is a path that will one day make your fortune and mine."

He pawed at my chest, walked around in a circle thrice, stretched languorously and lay down, purring. I couldn't help but feel soothed and soon fell into a deep sleep of my own.

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Now, for several more months, life went on as ever. It was hard work, but no worse than before. The summer afternoon trips to the river were, however, more joyful, as Princess Charlotte seemed always to be there and, though I learnt to control myself, we often spent long minutes locked eye to eye - her fully clothed in her castle, me stark naked on the riverbank below.

But then, not long after my 19th birthday, tragedy struck. Working in the mill one afternoon, Father suddenly died.

I was bereft. But my bereavement turned to anger when I learned that he had left Jon the mill in his own right, Monty the mule, whom he could at least use to earn a living, and me nothing at all but Puss and the clothes on my back.

As I sat, heaving tears of grief and anger, the afternoon we laid Father in the ground, Puss came to me once more.

"Trust me, master, trust me. You have caught the Princess's eye. Now is the time to put my plan into action."

To be continued...