Chapter IX: Knight's Night

As I was preparing for bed, Emilia barged into my room, holding some clothes and wearing a vulpine smile. "I'm about to go to bed. If you have something to say, it can probably wait until the morning."

She continued to smile as she brought over her stuff to the bed and laid it down. "I'm staying here tonight. Queen's orders. And my orders."

"What? No! Why in any gods' names would we do that?!" Her small smile grew substantially as I spoke.

"Oh, there are plenty of reasons for us to stay in the same room." She patted the bed fondly. I gulped. "Starting with the fact that you're not trustworthy."

"What's that supposed to mean? I haven't lied to anyone!"

"No, but you ran away. Queen Meryl is concerned that you will do it again after the events of today."

"There's no way I'm getting you to sleep anywhere else, is there?"

"He's learning!" Emilia replied with false pride. I sighed and stopped undressing. I kept on some small clothes and crawled into the bed. She crawled next to me. Very next to me. The most next to me another person could have been. And she was not wearing clothes. I had not looked while she was preparing herself. Something told me that she was disappointed by this. I tried to close my eyes, but this did not help whatsoever. It just drew my attention to the whole of her against me. Warm and soft. A gentle perfume washing over me. Her head rested on my chest. Her leg rested on mine. And I sat stiff as a board. Not like that. Well, yes. Also like that. But mostly I tried not to move. I tried to keep my breathing steady and calm. And I failed. Badly.

Weirdly, she was just able to fall asleep pretty easily. She was out after just ten minutes. Maybe a little more. I stared up at the ceiling for what seemed like ages. I must have fallen asleep at some point, though, because I woke up to a completely different sight. And sensation. My arms were pinned down above my head and there was a weight on my waist. And the First Knight Lady Carmella was on top of me, holding my arms down. She was watching me with intense eyes. Fortunately, she had some clothes on. Unfortunately, what she was wearing was a completely translucent shift. I could see everything. And the reason that that was unfortunate was because, with that image in front of me and the warmth of her body, I was fully erect and pressing into her pussy with only the thin fabric of my undergarments to separate us. I looked around and saw Emilia laying to the side, over the blankets. She was still naked. Her eyes met mine and she wore a huge grin.

"L-Lady Carmella. Good evening." My voice may have cracked. I cleared my throat. "How can I help you?"

"Why?" Her eyes pierced me. Even if she had not been holding my hands down, I do not think that I could have moved from the spot if I had wanted to. With an effort, I shook my head.

"Why what?" I genuinely had no idea what she was asking about. But, to be fair, I was very distracted.

"Why did you make me a sword?" Her voice was icy. She slammed her new sword next to my head. I swallowed hard. "Do you think that you can buy me off? Win me over that easily, blacksmith?"

"What? Oh. No, no, no. That wasn't it at all. It's no big deal."

The woman leaned down dangerously close to my face. "Why did you do it?"

"B-because it was my fault your sword got broken. I just wanted to make things right. I'm sorry!" It was a bit of a whine, but I had seen her kill six men with the same attitude one might eat breakfast with. And it was a very stressful situation. It got more stressful for me when she leaned back and laughed. She let go of my arms, but her ass and gender pressed harder into me and I groaned. She made no move and just sat back, watching me.

"Why didn't you come deliver them yourself? Why just have Em leave them in my room?"

"Well," I began, then threw a glare Emilia's way, she pretended to look surprised, but the slight smile stretching her lips gave her away. "I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it. It isn't important."

"Not important? Giving a gift to me isn't important?" Carmella asked, her voice icing over again.

"No, not like that." I muttered, trying to shift a bit, which was a mistake. A soft gasp escaped the knight's lips as I incidentally pressed into her more and she responded by pushing down against me harder, pinning me between her knees. This also elicited a gasp and a small shudder from her, but that did not diminish her intimidating glare down at me. How are women able to think like this? I can barely remember to breathe.

"I-I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I fucked up and your sword broke. I just wanted it to be right. I... I saw how frustrated you were when you couldn't find another sword. So, I made you another one. It isn't important." She stared at me for a long time, her face softening some. She leaned down and put her hands on my shoulders and met my eyes. She was tall enough so that she only had to barely shift to do this, leaving the majority of her weight on my... waist.

"Blacksmith, did you know that I have only ever owned 3 swords before I met you?"

"Uh, no. No, I didn't." I said thickly. I did not see how I could know that. Or why it was important.

"My first sword was given to me by my father when I became a knight's apprentice. I could barely hold it up but it was precious to me. It was a simple sword. Nothing special about it. But I learned everything I know on it. It broke during a battle for my life. But thanks to its sacrifice, I survived. The second sword was given to me by my master as he died. It was a sword passed down in his family for generations. But he had no children left and he entrusted it to me. It was well made, but it too eventually broke. Swords do that eventually. Especially when you use them as often as I have to. The third sword was a wedding gift from Meryl. She gave it to me the night we first spent together as a married couple. That was the sword that broke the other day. The sword that bandit broke. Not you."

"But if it hadn't been for me i-"

"It would have broken eventually. That's what swords do." She cut me off, still staring into my eyes. "At least that's what I kept telling myself. But that was the first sword that had been forged specially for me. It was my s-sword."

Her voice broke on the last word. She collapsed against me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "But you brought it back to me. You fixed it."

"Well," I wrapped my arms around her and patted her back softly. "Not really. I couldn't fix it. It'll never be a weapon again. At least not really."

"Weapons come and go. And you fixed that, too." She pulled away a little. Just enough to face me. "You idiot. Next time don't have Em do your dirty work. Just come to me and give me the damn things. So I can thank you properly."

"I..." I gulped. She was really close and she was so pretty. Her intense eyes were not so intimidating when they were this close. They were just focused. It seemed like she really saw me.

"You know. When Meryl presented her sword to me, I thanked her for it." She whispered slowly. I heard Emilia's breath catch. "My gratitude lasted most of the night."

"Oh?" I managed. My breathing was heavy. My length stretched against her, arching against her bare gender. She was so warm. And humid. I tried to say something else, but lost it when she leaned down and kissed me. Her lips were soft. My hands slid down her shift, gently massaging her back. I pressed my hips up into hers and she gasped into my mouth. She broke the kiss off, breathing heavily. So was I. She peeled her shift off and threw it to the side. I followed its motion and watched it land on Emilia who was watching us intently. One of the half elf's hands had slipped between her thighs and she was gently rocking back and forth against it.

Lady Carmella brought my attention back to her when she gripped either side of my small clothes and stripped me down. She made it seem somehow graceful. I was anything but as my erection popped out and stretched upwards. Once I was nude, the First Knight leaned down and kissed me again, her hand in between us. She gripped my length hard. I groaned and she loosened a little bit. For a woman who was used to a sword, she knew when to ease up. She pressed the head into her and started gently massaging it against her. Some of her wetness spilled over me and I groaned. She let out a breath against my lips, closing her eyes. I could not help but press up into her. She moaned and arched back into me. After a few moments of us grinding and breathing against each other, I felt her slide me down to her opening. I knew I was just a little pressure from being inside of her. I opened my eyes and wrapped my hand around her head, entangling my fingers in her hair. "A-are you sure you want this?"

She did not answer immediately, instead deciding to push herself down onto me. There was some amount of resistance and then she sank down a couple of fingers down onto me. She shuddered and arched her back, pressing her chest into mine. She smiled at me and gripped my head and pulled my lips to hers. Against them, she said in a breathless voice. "I don't do things I don't want to, blacksmith."

She slid down until our hips met and I could not help but claw through her hair and down her back. She grinned against my lips and started working against me. She ground her hips against me and I could feel the small ripples of pleasure echo through her body. I arched into her and worked against her motions. She started to pull up and I felt cold air wrap around my now soaked cock. Panicking, I gripped her ass and tried to push her back down. She was stronger than I was and resisted me entirely. Then she slammed back down on me and I convulsed, wrapping my arms around her. She rose up again and instead of fighting it, I just thrust up as many times as I could and she came back down onto me, shuddering.

I glanced over to Emilia who was shivering as her hand played across her own mound. This gave me an idea and reached down between us and slid my thumb against Carmella's gender. She grinned down approvingly and used one of her hands to help guide me. After some time, I found a part of her that caused her entire body to jolt and her pussy to clamp around me. I focused there and she continued to ride me as hard as she could, her thrusts becoming erratic and uneven. Her soft, breathless gasps grew into loud moans and her entire body undulated against me. Everything was shaking and she stopped actively riding me. The only thing that was left was me toying with her soaked gender. She clenched down on me again and I came. Hard. My entire body convulsed and shuddered against her. My hand stopped and the other pulled her against my chest. We were slicked with sweat and her own convulsing came back hard. I filled her entirely and she wrapped her arms around me, kissing my neck softly. We laid there together for a long time. Eventually she muttered against my neck, "That was... different."

"Oh. I'm sorry." I mumbled into her hair.

"I said 'different', blacksmith. Not bad." She pulled up just enough to meet my eyes, not daring to let me slip outside of her. Every time she tried to move more than a few fingers in any direction, she would shudder and shiver. "I've never been with a man before."

"Oh." I said. I had been with a couple of women. Mostly trader's daughters who were passing through. Never anything long term. I took a risk and kissed her again. She kissed me back, a smile spreading across her lips as she did. She laughed. "What? What is it?"

"I've never seen much appeal in men. Some of them are attractive enough, I guess. But you're the first one I ever thought about keeping around." I thought about that and tried to frown, but I think it came out more as a smirk. "Oh, don't let that go to your head. I'm not going to go any easier on you. Harder in fact."

"Promise?" I said with a raised brow. I could not help it. She responded with a grin.

"Yeah," She raised herself and I slid out, moaning and whimpering. "I heard about your little duel. Your swordsmanship is sloppy. You almost died."

I rolled my eyes and looked away. "I was fine."

"Em here was worried for you. Says he almost hit a couple of arteries. And you turned your back on him. After you're done helping Meryl with the court tomorrow, you're going to be training with me. I'll make you into a knight, yet."

"I don't know if I can do that." I said, facing away from her.

"Excuse me?" She pulled my face over to hers and looked me in the eyes. "What in the sixteen hells did you just say?"

"I don't know if I can be a knight. I... I can't keep murdering men. I..." She put a hand on my face and shook my head.

"Stop being an idiot."

"No!"

"No? You want to continue being an idiot?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I don't want to be a murderer!"

"From the sound of it, you're not much of a murderer." She said placidly. She turned away from me and pulled my arms around her. She then collected Emilia, who had mostly passed out and made her way into the arms of the knight. She spoke quietly. "You're not going around killing people because you want to. You haven't wanted to kill anyone. Just keep that in mind. But you're not getting out of this. You're going to be my squire for a while. Then you'll be a knight. You will be Second Knight. Lord Johann."

I laughed and shook my head. "I'm no knight and no lord."

"No, but you will be. Between Em and Ryl, and me, you will be. You have good instincts. And you'll take it seriously." She paused for a moment. "It's not easy for anyone, you know. I've known knights that revel in the killing. They bathe in blood. They're the worst ones."

"Violence is a curse." I muttered almost inaudibly. She nodded. Her hearing was ridiculous.

"It is. But you're already cursed. Now you need to use that curse to make sure more people don't become cursed. It's your responsibility now." She pressed farther into me. "Besides, Ryl ordered it and she'll never take no for an answer. You know that. Neither will I."

We fell asleep at some point. Which was not easy. It was hot with three people on the bed. And Carmella snores. Not delicate, cute snores. I've heard roars from bears that are more gentle. But eventually, I must have fallen asleep. The only dream I could remember was me stabbing the merchant. The image was burned into my mind. I think I had other dreams that were more peaceful. One with pretty green eyes and flashes of red hair, but I cannot really remember.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" I jumped at the sound of the voice from sleep and slipped, falling off the bed. "Carmella, you started without me?"

Carmella yawned and stretched, unashamed of her nudity. "I was getting even. You slept with that other blacksmith."

"Yeah, but he wasn't the one," Meryl said accusingly.

"You didn't know that at the time." Carmella said, pulling herself out of bed. She wrapped her arms around Meryl and kissed her on the cheek. Meryl responded by kissing back and reaching between her knight's legs. She jumped up and yelped. "What are you doing! We all have things to do today."

Meryl suckled on her finger innocently and smiled. "So, how was it?"

For my part, I tried to pull the blanket off the bed, but a sleeping Emilia gripped it and mumbled and would not let it go. So, I stood there in my shame.

"Not bad. I think with a little training, it might be worthwhile." Carmella said, offhandedly. She started to dress. She had brought a new set of clothes with her. Apparently it had always been a part of her plan to stay the night.

"Well, he's mine today. We're going to teach him some proper decorum. Things he'll need to know."

"Until the afternoon. Then I'm going to be training him so that Emilia doesn't have to come running to him every time he insults a lord."

Meryl nodded and watched me appraisingly. She seemed to like what she saw, because she gave me a smile. It was only then that I noticed that I was hard again. I rushed off and grabbed some clothes and started stuffing myself into them, muttering about how all of them were insane.

Meryl managed to get through all of the petitioners in a matter of a few hours, which allowed her to take me to the library. It had more books than I thought had ever existed in one place at a time. Hundreds upon hundreds. She picked out a few and set them on a table. I picked them up and started perusing them. She had picked out books on ethics, court etiquette, and dueling. By the time she was done, there were twenty volumes lined up. "You're going to read all of these and give me a report and answer my questions on each one."

"Oh. Okay. Sure." I took one of the books and sat down. It was a book on etiquette. As it turns out, most etiquette is nonsense that rich people made up to shame poor people. Poor people literally cannot afford to do these things. Owning six different kinds of forks for different meals. Some of it was useful though. How to ask questions, how to articulate questions better. Things that the common man could learn but would never be given the chance. Meryl sat next to me reading something. When I asked what she was reading, she blushed and muttered something about ancient folklore. She cuddled into me and when Carmella came in and demanded that I get up for training, the queen looked pretty annoyed. I put the book down outside of the two piles she created as I passed.

"What are you doing?" Meryl asked.

I looked back at the woman, "Huh?"

"Why are you separating that one?"

"Oh. I'm finished. I read it."

"What? How?"

"It's only like two hundred pages. It's not that difficult. And most of it is filler, honestly. Nothing special." Meryl looked impressed. And maybe a little disbelieving.

"Okay, we'll have a test tomorrow on it. See how much you retained."

The training with Carmella was the hardest it had been since the first day. She expected me to retain all of the various new forms she taught me. She trained me in a proper dueling style and seemingly two hundred other little things. The last thing we did before dinner was spar. She always sparred with real blades. She thought that anything else would cause us to be reckless or teach us bad habits. I... mostly kept up. I got a couple of hits in. It was hard to work without my dagger, but she insisted. Duels would not allow me to use daggers and she thought there were more duels in my future.

Dinner was fun. The meal was simple but enough to fill me. Carmella kept teasing Meryl about her experience. Kept hinting at things that we had done. Meryl's face was red for most of the dinner. I felt like Carmella was exaggerating, but Emilia backed up every word. She even seemed a little jealous that it had not been her. After dinner, I decided to retreat to the library. I figured I could hide out there. I managed to knock out the book on ethics. Most ethicists or philosophers spend a lot of time telling people what they already know. Trying to add justifications towards things that just should be. I guess that can be useful.

After I finished that one, I found the book that Meryl had been reading. It took some time. There were so many books. When I did find it, I could not put it down. It was not some book on old myths. It was a love story between a man and a woman. And it was explicit. It was longer than both of the other books that I had read today put together. But it was fascinating. The woman was demure in it and let the man lead most of the time. When she did take control it was because he was being too thick-headed to do it himself. Eventually Emilia came to the library and took the book away. She had to drag me to bed.