Chronicles of the Black Swords Ch. 03

I take a deep breath as I feel my anger rise in my chest. The seams of my shirt threaten to tear as the muscles bulge hard.

"I don't go anywhere without it Mastersmith. Not since winter started coming on and those things started coming into the woods. Now if you don't like the fact that I carry it I can see to it father sells our char to one of the other smiths. Some of the others have been offering us better prices than you but we've kept you supplied since it's tradition for our two families to do that. Do you want that?"

I see him take a half step back from me.

Is that fear I see in his eyes?

He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. No

"Back to the forge!" he orders his guys. When he turns to look at me his expression changes. "If you wold please keep it out of sight. I don't like to see the thing."

I watch his broad back as he moves off towards his shop.

"Flenn." I hear my name as a whisper.

Turning to the side of the house I see Gertrude standing under the shed that houses the kitchen firewood. Looking back towards the forge I walk over to her.

She may not be a beauty but the coming of winter and her passage into her eighteenth winter has if anything managed even more of a change in her than me.

The harvest feast put a few more pounds on her and made her features a bit more plump. It's an improvement.

"You just stood down father!" she says in an awed whisper.

I shrug.

"I didn't care for his tone with me. Sorry."

Gertrude looks off towards the forge then steps the two paces towards me.

I find her in my arms before I know what to do. Her lips are cold but they quickly warm against mine as she kisses me. There is a skill there that I find interesting. I wonder even as I kiss her who else has tasted theses lips.

Sliding my hand inside her jacket I fill my hand with one of her breast. I delight in the squeak that brings from her.

I manage to slide down the top of her bodice enough that my fingers locate her nipple through the thick blouse. She gives another squeak then a moan.

I give it a tweak as I pull away from her.

Walking back to the wagon I don't look back. I know what she is doing though. How I know it I can't say but I see her holding the breast I pinched and looking at my back with a puzzled frown and a look of growing lust.

When I reach the edge of the stones I pull Mother's Morn out and wrap the belt around my hips. As I do so I look back towards the forge and see her still looking after me.

As I pass the apple woods I feel a sudden disquiet settles about me. Looking towards the dark trees suddenly I feel that the old stories of trolls in the heart of the orchard might not be so far fetched. A definite feeling of hate filled eyes watching me settles upon me. I tighten my fingers on Mother's Morn till I'm past them.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Beltine is normally the festival celebrating the arrival of spring.

There shouldn't been a foot of new snow on the ground.

The Lord of the manor and his knights road in this morning to join in the feasting that normally takes place. The scramble to gather enough food from the surrounding homes for there to be a feast is frantic. I know that if the cold doesn't break soon this meal that his Lordship knights complains so bitterly about the quality of may cause several families to starve.

Mine won't be among them. Our fortunes have never been better. Father's heath took a turn for the better not long after mid winter and he managed to get out of bed enough to watch the fires. That left Steward and me to the other chores. We managed to if not double our output at least add to it some.

Mother's Morn has had to cut more than wood again this spring. Twice we have been set upon in the deep woods. Stewards axe wouldn't have been enough to save us on both occasions.

For the black sword, now always at my side, it was easy work.

"Well what have we here? A woodburner who thinks he's a knight." The words are haughty and they carry the sound of the cities about them.

I turn and give the required bow to nobility as I see the gold spurs on their heels. The two men are dressed in the most colorful of velvets one blue, one green and both wear dyed furs. One holds a piece of cloth to his nose as if the smells of the village offend him.

It's the other one that spoke though, the one in blue...

"Where did you find that sword boy?" he asks me his eyes on the dark leather at my side.

Part of me now wishes I'd followed Stewards advice and left the sword at the house.

I also know if I had tried to do that I would have gone back for it before I made it a dozen feet out the door.

"A noble asked you a question boy answer him!" Says the armored guard
standing next to the two knights in their finery.

I turn my head a bit and my eyes lock on the guard, I take in his chainmail shirt and the hard look to his face. He's one of the new ones that came up from the south in the middle of the winter. His eyes widen as he looks at my face and I see his hand reflexively close around the haft of the halberd he caries.

"I found it in a tree I was chopping down, my lords." I tell the man in blue.

"Ah, battlefield trash no doubt. Well come spring we will be calling up a force to go to the war in the south and that sword may find it's way into the hands of someone who can use it. Take It." he orders the guard.

The man takes a half step towards me then stops with a gasp.

My hand is on the hilt of Mother's Morn. An inch of the black sword is clear of the leather. My eyes I know carry the fact that it won't leave my fingers while life is in me. I see a look of incredulous surprise cross the featured of the two knights.

"You would dare draw steel on a noble?" the Blue Knight asks with a hiss. He takes a half step back and a young man walking behind him dress to match moves forward. I see the boy...squire...offer the noble a gilded scabbard and the bejeweled sword slides from it easily.

I notice the guard is slowly drifting back away from me. His face is locked on mine a look I can't place filling his eyes.

Another inch of Mother's Morn clears the scabbard.

I see the noble's features settle into a murderous look.

"Filthy peasant! I'll have to teach you your place. When I've disarmed you I'll have the life whipped from you!"

"What's going on here sir Talbric?"

I don't turn my head but I can see the face of the Lord as he and his guards walk up behind me. I see one of them go to lower his halberd towards my back but the guard in front of me almost franticly waves him off.

"This peasant would draw that piece of battlefield scrap on me!" says the Blue Knight with a sputter.

I hear a chuckle from behind me after a second. I can see the Lord is smiling.

"Would he now? Would he indeed? Well I must say I like that kind of spirit in my people. Sheath your sword sir Talbric this is a feast not a tourney melee."

The Blue Knight's face goes through several emotions most of them based on hate in some way. He turns and slams the gilded bejeweled sword into the, squire held, scabbard. I see the young man flinch as the hilt hits his fingers.

I slowly slid the dark steel back home. I can feel a sense of disappointment. I don't think it's mine.

I watch the two knights and their guards and squires walk off into the crowd. The guards are shoving them a clear path through the gathering.

I turn to the Lord. His eyes are hard as they met mine.

"I don't really care for sir Talbric but he is a Knight. A Noble. I could have your thumbs ripped out for what you did. He's an arrogant snobbish boot full of piss that is badly in need of dumping but he is by the grace of the King's hand... a far station above yours. I like spirit in my people...disrespect him again and I will take...umbrage... at your lack of hubris."

I nod to the Lord of the lands I live in. The man whose family has rules mine for dozens of generation.

It's the nod one equal would give to another.

I see his guard's faces tighten and their weapons shift a bit.

Mother's Morn is whispering....

The Lord slowly smiles. After a second he returns the nod.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

The reaction of the girls of marriageable age to what happened is absolutely ferocious! I soon feel like I'm the prize stud bull at a breading auction.

I hear a chuckle deep in my thoughts.

Apparently Mother's Morn agrees.

The mothers of the girls that finally will not give way to one another all come together and, with my mother directing it, they very much do bid on me!

The final offer for me is a house built new for my bride and I to dwell in. It will be constructed on a large bare tract of land not terrible far from the house of my parents. A bit too rocky for much farming, it will do well for a charcoal burner's dwelling.

I watch my Mother shake hands with the wife of the smith.

Gertrude is looking at me with a possessive grin as our mothers go to find the priest.

Oh well at least she can cook.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

The room at the tavern is almost a strange thing for me. The walls are white plastered. I've never seen that. The bed is huge and the covers many.

Again new to me.

A night here...my father and brother's Beltine gift to me.

I look down at the circlet of polished steel the priest fastened around my left wrist. In a years time it will be exchanged for a ring that will be placed upon my finger.

Steward say it will also fit just perfectly in my nose.

I turn towards Gertrude.... my wife of a whole hour. She's lighting the large wax candles her brothers and father gave her. She also bears a similar circlet. I remember Stewards and his wife's were wooden.

Marriage to a smith's daughter it sees has benefits beyond the normal.

I watch her turn towards me.

Maybe it would have been better if her father and brothers hadn't given her candles.

She moves over to me and places a soft kiss upon my lips. Stepping back she smiles up at me.

She's...actually very ...well not beautiful but not bad looking when she smiles.

She lifts my left hand and places a softer kiss upon the steel bracelet.

"May we have these taken off sooner than a year." She says in a whisper to me.

I know by that she hopes I'll get her pregnant soon. A woman with child is the fastest way the rings can be put firmly in place.

The idea of little children calling me father sends a strange feeling though me.

Then she is in my arms. This kiss is far from soft. There is a demanding need from her that I have never felt in my life from another person ...certainly not from a woman kissing me.

She breaks the kiss and places her hands on my chest. She backs me to the bed and I sit down when I feel it against the back of my thighs.

"I have something for you my love. It's something I've wanted to give you for a long time." She steps back from me. I look at her back lit from the tall candles.

The strings of her bodice begin to unravel at her quick fingers. I watch with fascination as her breast settle lower without the support. Then the laces are out of the way and she slips off the brocade cloth.

I can make out the darker points of her nipples through the white blouse as she works the laces at her throat. The blouse opens out the way and I can see her under chemise. It opens a long way down her chest and I see the tops of her breast appear before my eyes. The nipples are clearly to be seen pressed against the thin material.

"Husband?" she says softly.

I lift my eyes to her face.

"Help me with my boots."

She lifts her foot and places the leather between my legs. Her skirt falls away to reveal the tall tops of the boots she's wearing.

Hesitantly I lift my hand up till I'm holding her leg just under the calf. I pull lose a lace and look up at her eyes as I slowly loosen it, down to her feet.

She slips her stocking encased foot from within it. I see her delicate toes for the first time and feel myself beginning to respond.

Then her next foot is between my legs.

This time I place my hand higher and I feel the soft cotton hose under my fingers and the warm heat of the back of her knees in my palm. The laces unravel in my fingers. When I look up I see her smiling at me.

Her foot slips free.

"My stockings."

Her foot is almost tiny as she places it between my legs. I look up at her then back down at her leg.

Placing my hand under her knee I catch the top of the hose and begin to roll them down her leg. The pale skin appearing above the fabric is mesmerizing to my eyes. So forbidden.... and yet ...mine now.

That though comes up to me as I slide her foot out the stocking and it rests in my hand. I look down at her delicate toes and slowly start to caress my...wife's... foot.

I hear a low moan from her.

"Any other night and you can do that to your hearts content, my lord. But tonight, my husband, I have other things I want you to touch besides my feet. The other one please."

Her foot is taken from me and the other one placed before me. I leave it to rest on the bed and run both of my hands up her leg. She lifts her skirt higher till it clear the top of the hose then higher still till I see the pale white of her thigh. My fingers brush this as I catch the top of her hose and start to pull them slowly down. Looking up at her I see her grin.

I run my hand down her calf as the hose starts to slip free. Then her foot is in my hand. She lets me rub it for only a second then takes it away.

"As I said other things to touch tonight."

As I watch she undoes the ties of her skirt and it drops in a puddle to her feet.
The candles back light her. I can see her body...her whole body as she lets the blouse fall to the floor on top of the skirt, backbit through the thin cloth of her chemise.

I shift on the edge of the bed uncomfortable. I've hardened to the point it's painful.

I feel the impossible happen then.

I harden even more.

The last ties are undone and the thin chemise drops like a white water fall to the floor. First her breast come clear of it. They stand full and proud up from her chest. They are far larger than I would have though she had. Then the cloth passes her hips and I see the gentle round curves where her stomach and thighs met. Her hand covers her for a second then she moves it away.

My eyes are drawn like iron filling to lodestone to the dark tangle of hair. The forbidden land of pleasure, that the older men always discuss in whisper least the women hear them talking.

I slowly let my eyes travel up to her face again.

I was wrong, the candles were a very good idea. Bare to the world my wife is as beautiful as any woman ever born.

"Do you like what you see my husband?" she asks me with a blush to her cheeks. I see her bite at her bottom lip when I hesitate to answer for a second.

"You are so beautiful." I say in a soft whisper.

She smiles and then I see her giving me a frank look.

"You didn't think that till you saw me like this." She says after a second. "Will that opinion return when I put my clothes back on?"

I shake my head.

"I was a boy then." I tell her getting to my feet.

She looks at me with a touch of apprehension crossing her features for a second.

"Oh...and are you a man now?"

I step the few feet to my wife and look down into her beautiful face. I lean in till I'm just inches from her face.

"I'm about to be."

Her naked body fills my arms and then my hands as I lean into her lips. The warmth of her... the soft as silk feeling of her skin as I caress her back. Then down her back and onto her hips.

Her lips attack mine with a furious aggression. I feel again that skill that I did so many months ago. I don't care now who may have kissed her. I'm sure in my heart that she wasn't like she is now when he did.

After a moment her fingers find the back of my head and dig in to my hair. I start to feel an upward pull. I with great reluctance let her lips slip away. My eyes open to find hers gazing into mine from only inches away.

"Husband?"

I smile

"Yes my wife?'

She hesitates then swallows.

"May I see you.... as...I am now?"

I nod and step back from her. I bring my hand up to the laces of my shirt.

"No!"

I stop. She moves the short distance. Her fingers come up to meet mine.

"Let Me." she says softly.

I smile and nod.

Watching with a smile I see her begin to undo the laces by my throat. The shirt falls open inch by inch as she does. I smile when I see her lift her head to look through the opening to my chest.

"Take it off if you want to see." I tell her.

She looks up at me and blushes then lowering her eyes nods. Her finger start to pull at the buckle of my sword belt. I grin when she suddenly opens it and its full weight pulls her forward. I catch it and set it to the side against the chair. Mother's Morn leans against the inner arm of the chair with a sound that's just about a chuckle.

My shirt unbelted it drifts out from my skin to brush her. I watch as she catches the bottom edge of it and lifts it up.

Her hands come to rest on my chest as she lets the shirt fall to the floor. I smile when I hear a soft growl from her throat as she runs her hands across the hard muscle.

"Oh I did not know you had this under there. My lord laughter, you are a beautiful man."

I chuckle.

"And I'm yours."

She looks up at my face and I see a sudden need flush her cheeks. Her hands drop to the rope tying my pants around my waist. She fumbles with the knot for a second then it opens. My pants drop open on the sides to past my cock. I look down and shift myself till I'm sitting on the chair that Mother's Morn is leaned against.

"Usually I take off my boots first. But feel free to remove my clothing in what ever order you feel like."

She smiles then kneels down in front of me. Her head suddenly closer to my cock than any woman's has ever been. I see her eyes go to it. The hard bulge pushing the thin small cloth.

I gasp as without warning she moves her hand to it. I lean back into the chair, the sword's hilt a cold pressure against my back. Her fingers tighten against me till it's almost painful.

Their sudden absence is almost as much a shock as their presence was. Looking down at her she's blushing scarlet.

"I just wanted to feel it." she says quickly.

I start to laugh.

She looks up at me embarrassed.

"I've never touched one before. I just wanted to see what it felt like." She says with a shrug.

Leaning forward I place a soft kiss upon her lips to still her embarrassment. When we part her eyes linger on mine.

"If you will take off my boots and get these pants out the way. We can let yourself really feel what one is like." I tell her as I sit back. Again there is the hard poke of Mother's Morn in my back, but this time it almost feels like a hand. Like a finger taping me to get my attention.

She seems to have a lot more experience taking off a man's boots than his shirt because she quickly has the soft leather unlaced and pull from my stockings. Then my pants follow. They were already around my knees.

I go to stand so that I can get my small cloth off but she presses me back by my chest. I grin as she lifts my foot and rolls down my stocking. Then I watch her playfully eying me as she does the other one.

"Are you always this hard, my lord?"

I chuckle.

"Only when I'm around a so very naked a woman."

She grins.

"So you going to be this hard every time you see me naked? That could lead to problems."

"I can think of a solution to those problems." I tell her with a smile.

"Oh, and what be that?" she asks with a grin.

Standing up I look down at her. My hand goes to the tied cloth at the side and with practiced ease the knot comes lose. As the cloth falls away I see her mouth open in surprise.