Brian's Adventures Ch. 11

"Do I know you?" Said the short, stout, brown haired man as he neared our table.

"I don't think so good sir." I said as dismissively as politely as possible.

At the moment I just wanted to sit and finish my drink, then get out of sight for the evening. The last thing I wanted was trouble from some half-drunk gent who mistook me for someone who recently wronged him. I returned to the conversation with the ladies and paid him no more mind but he did not leave as I had hoped.

"I do know you." He said, only partially convinced about it himself, "But not really, I know of you." He continued as he started to think things over and tried even harder to remember than before.

"I don't think so. If you don't mind we're trying to have a quiet drink." I said trying to dismiss him once more, but again he did not move.

"I saw you." He started and stopped for a moment. "I saw you at the church?" He said doubting his own words and took a moment to think of the odd words that had come out of his mouth. "YES!" He shouted with the excitement of remembering what he had been trying to remember. "I remember you now!" He said aloud with confidence. "Hey everyone! This here is that crazy bugger that married only one wife the other day!" He announced to the whole Inn with the excitement and pride of remembering what he had so desperately tried to.

"You're daft!" Said the said one of the barmaids.

"That was just a rumor!" One of the other barmaids, called back.

"No, no tis true, I swear! I saw it with my own eye!" The man now put his drink down and stood up straight. "This fellow here is that Outsider that washed up on the north shore a spell ago." He paused as the Inn folk gathered around our table.

"I heard about that, I thought it was just ale-talk." Said the youngest barmaid.

"They whipped him and let him go but The Church didn't like the thought of an unmarried man running around the island so they hastily arranged a marriage for him." The man said with confidence, talking to the crowd and not talking to us anymore.

"Really? You don't say!" Said one of the old women patrons. "Is that true dear? Is that really you?" She said as she put her hand on my shoulder and asked politely.

"That is the short version, but basically yes." I said as I smiled at the lady and then the crowd that had gathered, completely surrounding our table. "You left out however that this lovely woman here is the woman I love, whom I am most fortunate to call my wife." I said as I stroked the back of Jealile and the crowd hushed and looked at her with reverence.

"Who's this one then?" The man who caused all this commotion asked as he pointed to Yeoline. "One of your other wives?" He said as he tried valiantly to look down the ample cleavage of an unsuspecting Yeoline.

"No, we are engaged. I wanted to marry her as well but the Reverend Kenvessa wouldn't hear of allowing me to marry more than one wife." I explained politely as I rubbed Yeoline's shoulder and smiled at her.

"You mean to tell me that you married only one woman?" A middle-aged woman said with disgust and distain in her voice. "Are you queer or something?" She asked looking down her nose at me.

"No! Like I said, Reverend Kenvessa only wanted me to be married so I wouldn't upset the 'natural balance of Tania'. He didn't like making an allowance for me and would only let me marry one woman. Because as you know being married to one woman or eight would still serve his purpose!" I finished a little perturbed at her accusation.

"It's still unnatural!" The old woman snapped.

"Just not right!" Said another patron.

"Can a fellow stay faithful to one woman?" One of the men around the table asked curiously as he scratched his head and pondered what struck him as a bizarre concept.

"If he loves her enough, yes. And I do love Jealile very much." I said as I leaned in and gave Jealile a kiss and the crowd smiled at this show of genuine affection. "But rest assured, I will be at the next Harvest Festival and select my other seven wives. Then we'll be just like everyone else." I said to the old woman who had snapped at me.

"Not soon enough if you ask me. All those unhappy woman out there and this one here hogging you all to herself, it's not right!" The old woman grumbled. "Isn't it dearie?" She said in a conciliatory tone as she put her hand on Yeoline's shoulder looking her in the eye as she said it.

"It's alright." Yeoline said as she smiled bravely at me and took my hand. "I know Brian loves me and would marry me if he could. But as he said, it wasn't possible. We must wait for the Harvest Festival to make things right." Yeoline said with a positive beat and squeezed my hand and smiled at me again.

"You're a brave lass." She said in the same 'understanding' tone. "I know what it's like to be so close to what you want and yet so far." The old woman said and Yeoline opened her mouth as if to speak but no words came out; I could see a tear threatening to escape from her left eye.

"I heard he was a powerful Lord from a distant land! I heard that they gave him an Estate to appease him!" One man said to another a little louder then he needed to.

"That's not true! I'm no Lord!" I asserted to the crowd but it fell on deaf ears.

"A Lord! An Estate Master Lord! My word! Right here in our midst!" The Innkeeper shouted and now it was as if some fool had knocked open a bee's nest.

There was a great deal of commotion and the crowd thickened in moments and from where we sat I could not see the edge of the crowd. The throng of people pushing and shoving around us looked impassable and I resigned myself to remaining where we were for the moment. The only consolation I could see about all of this activity was that Treabilla and Shelea could be easily overlooked. At first I simply thought that the buzz was just more people being fetched to see the 'Estate Master Lord'. At first I tried to deny everything but nobody would hear my words so I gave up after a moment.

After a bit the buzz quieted down to a dull roar and the Innkeeper fought his way to the front of the crowd directly across from where we sat. By now the Jealile and Yeoline had moved closer to me and one was on either side of me. The Innkeeper stood and seemed to be a buzz with energy but tried to contain himself as best he could. Beside him stood two of the younger Barmaids that helped run the Inn.

They were both pretty young lasses, one had long blonde hair with blue eyes and an impressive chest-line. The other was a brunette and had hazel eyes and a slightly more modest but equally lovely set of breasts. Both were tall and slender and had the mature figures of a woman and filled out their barmaid uniforms quite delightfully. The blonde was making eyes at me in the most comely way. The brunette stood there politely and smiled pleasantly at me but did not come on as strong as the blonde.

"Well, M'Lord." The Innkeeper started and seemed a little flustered and looked down, not daring to look me in the eyes at the moment as he spoke. "I hate to intrude sir, but rarely do we have a man of your station in our humble Inn. I know you have other things to attend to and I hate to intrude mind you." The Innkeeper said and paused, tripping over his own thoughts for a brief moment. "The Harvest Festival is coming up and you did say that you have some other wives to select. This will be my Daughters' first Harvest Festival." He said while pointing to the Barmaids at his side. "This is Revealia he said pointing to the blonde who waved and smiled wider at me. "And this is Carmelica." He said pointing to the Brunette who nodded and smiled pleasantly at me.

"I don't mean to be rude sir, but the Harvest Festival is months away." I replied politely but still flustered at having him bring his Daughters out for me to look over like this. This felt like being given a sneak peek at the latest cattle before the next auction, so you could pick the one you like; it seemed a little odd.

"I know sir, and I don't mean to intrude but as you can understand, I only want the best for my daughters you see. A man of your station would clearly give them the best lives possible, won't you at least let me introduce them to you sir?" The Innkeeper asked, now looking a little hurt.

"Can you believe this?" I whispered to Jealile in disbelief of the actions of the Innkeeper.

"It may seem odd, but it is customary and commonplace. Even more so when the upper-class comes through town." Jealile whispered back. "The polite thing to do is simply look them over and promise nothing.

"Seems strange, but if you think it's best." I replied in a whisper to Jealile before turning back to the Innkeeper. "Very well. Introduce them, but I can't promise you anything you understand." I said politely and looked over at the young ladies standing near him. "The Harvest Festival is a long way away and there is much to do before then, you understand." I replied and smiled at the young lasses in question.

"Thank you sir, and I appreciate your indulgence once more." The Innkeeper said with a slight bow. "Well, Carmelica over here is as smart as a whip, real good head for business she has! Helps me keep this place running and could easily run the show herself if I dare let her!" The Innkeeper chuckled.

"A dare sight better than you Father!" Carmelica laughed and her Father joined her as she reached over and extended her hand. I shook it firmly "Pleased to meet you M'Lord." She finished pleasantly; again she remained polite and reserved with a touch of warmth.

"She seems bright and could be useful, might want to keep her in mind." Jealile said with a smirk and a chuckle.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" I smirked back at Jealile.

"Well, it is my first time to be on this side of the Harvest Festival! After being on the other side three times, can you blame me?" Jealile chuckled and rested her hand on my arm.

"Just don't get carried away, remember who is doing the selecting here!" I playfully warned with a smirk of my own.

"Yes dear." Jealile replied with a condescending tone and peck on the cheek. "Next." She plainly said to the Innkeeper who nodded.

"Revealia is a wonderful cook and can keep a home in great order without breaking a sweat! A fine wife around the house she will make to be sure Sir." The Innkeeper said as he pointed to the Blonde.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance good Sir." Revealia said as she bent over with an attempted cover of shaking my hand. The trouble is she bent over so far and so close to me that I could see straight down her dress, clear to her bellybutton. Her large and lovely breasts nearly fell out of her dress, she bent so low to 'shake my hand'. On any other occasion it would be a most splendid and welcome sight but in such a crowd it did not seem the thing to do to ogle her 'attributes'.

"Hey sister, he's already got a pair of those!" Yeoline said, more than a little perturbed as she thrust her chest out as far as she could thereby making her already large breasts look even more monstrous!

"Bitch!" Revealia shot back as quietly as she could and quicker then she could get a hold of her tongue.

"Revealia!" The Innkeeper scolded.

"Yeoline!" I scolded at exactly the same time.

"Sorry Father." Revealia growled an excuse for an apology. "No doubt she stuffs her shirt." She grumbled under her breath hoping that no one other that Carmelica would hear.

Not many people heard it but Yeoline did and was not to be outdone by Revealia. In a flash Yeoline pulled down the top of her dress and revealed the breasts in question for all to see. There was a hushed shock that overtook the crowd, and a collective gasp was all that was heard.

"Does it look like I stuff my shirt?" Yeoline hissed at Revealia her eyes shot daggers at the woman.

"These are all natural too honey!" Revealia snapped back as she pulled the top of her dress down to expose her breasts as well.

Carmelica just rolled her eyes at the display of female flesh and was obviously disgusted by her sister's behavior. The Innkeeper was beside himself with shock and anger at his daughter. I admit that I took an ever so brief moment to look over the display of the most feminine of flesh before me. After all, four very lovely breasts were on display for me and how many times can you say that has happened?

"Ladies, that's quite enough!" I said in my best authoritative voice.

"Cover yourself up you daft girl!" Jealile hissed with disgust as she pulled Yeoline's dress back up over her breasts.

With that the Innkeeper snarled his disgust at his daughter and took her by the arm and roughly led her away. Revealia sputtered her protest and defense of her actions as she pulled her dress back up. In a moment they disappeared into the crowd, Carmelica with them shaking her head in detached disbelief.

"Safe to say, She's out!" Jealile said with a perturbed tone with the hint of a smirk.

"Yes, as lovely as she is, Yeoline might kill her before long." I replied with a playful smirk.

"Might!" Yeoline grumbled her quiet warning.

That was the beginning of the 'Parade of Potentials' as I call it. In short all of the eligible local women were brought forth before me and introduced in a similar fashion. It was a quite a distinguished line of lovely women of all shapes, sizes and descriptions who were brought before me one or two at a time. Some older, mostly it was the younger ones, some with a few extra pounds around the middle, some with not enough meat on their bones.

I lost count somewhere above twenty women that came before me hoping to catch my eye. I found it hard to believe that each and every one of these women wanted to marry me even having never spoken a word to me before today. While I enjoyed the parade as much as any man would enjoy seeing a line of beautiful women brought before him. However it never quite settled well with me and I felt I wanted to know a woman before marrying her. I knew nothing about these women save a few lines about them before they were whisked away. I made my mind up that I wanted to know the women I selected much better than this. It was then that I started to make a list in my head of the women I knew and liked enough to marry.

Jealile was enjoying herself, eyeing up each woman that came before us telling me the ones she liked. Somewhere along the way she picked up some paper and ink and was writing down the names of the lasses we liked. She seemed to have a good and objective eye for the lasses that came before us and could pick out their hidden qualities. I didn't want to say anything to her at the time but I had no intention of using the list she was making for any marital selections. As with all good and fun things, it must come to an end sooner or later.

"What Estate did you say is yours?" Asked one tall red headed beauty as she shook my hand, greeting me with a lovely smile.

"I didn't actually, but Kincaid is mine. We are on our way there now as a matter of fact." I said proudly and cheerfully.

The pale faces of the crowd along with the collective gasp of horror killed the jovial mood in a flash. The faces of the crowed turned from horror to confusion and it took but a moment for someone to ask what was on the minds of the people gathered.

"What kind of a Lord are you? Don't you know that place is cursed?" Asked the same old woman that had spoke to me before.

"Well, I never said I was a Lord! Somebody else said that! As for the 'Curse', I know that bad times have fallen on the Estate and there have been some suspicious happenings. Let me tell you however that we are not scared away from such superstitious nonsense! We will go to Kincaid and we will set things right! You'll see." I replied with indignation and firm belief in our journey.

"You mad fool! You're all a bunch of mad fools!" The old woman shook her head in disbelief and I could see in her face that she genuinely thought that we were lunatics.

The crowd quickly dispersed, whispering to themselves and steeling glances in our direction. A hushed condemning air fell over the Inn and before long we felt the need to retire to our rooms to escape it. We had not been in our room before long before Treabilla and Shelea had joined us.

"Enjoy your show M'Lord?" Treabilla snickered as she tried to contain herself as she closed the door behind Shelea and herself.

"I think you should select the second one." Shelea said in her best attempt to keep a straight face.

"You do, do you!" Yeoline shot back with a chuckled growl. "Not a bit jealous are you?" Yeoline teased back with a chuckle of her own as she cupped her breasts in her hands.

"Jealous! I'd look silly with breasts that big!" Shelea laughed as she put her hands on her hips thrusting her chest out as best as she could. "Besides, I think my breasts are fine for my size." Shelea said as she examined her breasts for a moment.

"Just as well if you ask me." Treabilla said with a pat on Shelea's back. "You'd probably fall over too much with boobs that big." Treabilla laughed and stole a look at Yeoline.

"She's just not woman enough to handle them." Yeoline said as she proudly thrust her breasts out as far as she could.

"As delightful a conversation as this is, how are we going to get out of here together?" I said with an unimpressed sigh as I shook my head in the direction of all the ladies.

"Same as before I suspect. We'll sneak out before dawn and meet you down the road a spell." Treabilla said motioning to Shelea.

"Sounds good to me, but what if the Guards catch you, how will we know if you are caught?" I asked not sure if I liked this plan. "I don't want to go too far without missing you! Why don't we just leave together tomorrow, what does it matter if we're leaving?" I said not wanting to split up the group yet again.

"That is too risky!" Treabilla argued shaking her head. "Tell you what. Up the road about a mile or so there is a small creek that crosses the road. A clearing is to the left just on the other side of the bridge that crosses it, meet us there. With any luck we will stop you before you get there." Treabilla said as confidently as she could.

"Well, that sounds sensible to me." Jealile added her approval and soon the other ladies also agreed and I went along with it, trusting their better judgment.

Treabilla, Shelea and Yeoline retired to their rooms and we all agreed to get some rest for the journey ahead. Jealile and I snuggled into our bed in our private room to get some rest and while we were tired, we were not too tired if you get my meaning.

"Tell me dear, was there any lasses in particular that struck your fancy tonight?" Jealile said as she snuggled up to me and rested her head on my chest.

Her leg was draped over my leg and she lightly rubbed her foot along my calf. She lightly played with my chest hairs and traced circles here and there around my upper body. Her eyes darted everywhere as she waited for my response.

"There were a few lovely lasses to be sure but to be honest dear, I don't know a thing about any of them! How can I be expected to want to marry someone that I know nothing about?" I replied as I started to caress her back and kissed her forehead.

"Not even Revealia?" Jealile asked teasingly.

"Not even Revealia." I replied and chuckled as I squeezed her tighter.

"You married me before you knew me very well, what's the difference?" Jealile asked me with a curious yet playful look.

"My dear Jealile, I thought you knew that I married you because I love you! I may have not known you that well, but I felt a connection to you and loved you. It was not because you fucked me the first time you saw me!" I replied now a little put off that my wife had doubted my reason for marrying her.

"I knew that silly, but it still is nice to hear from time to time my sweet!" Jealile said as she moved up and kissed me on the lips quite nicely and leisurely. "You say the nicest things to a wife you know." Purred Jealile contently as she kissed me again.