For Blood and Lust Pt. 01

Prologue

King Philip Benedict has died without naming an heir and the two siblings, Princess Vicaria and her younger brother Prince Leopold are about to clash in a civil war that threatens to destroy the Kingdom of Ambrosia. Powerful houses that were previously loyal to the King, are forced to align their loyalties with one of the two siblings and Kingdom of Thogon, as well as Latveria, the two enemies across the border, circle around the borders like vultures, waiting for Ambrosia to disintegrate, so that they may strike.

What follows below are stories of intense lust and eroticism, intended to take us into the lives of some of the major players in this conflict, for their sex lives were as intense and forbidden as the era in which they lived.

Chapter 1:

The five men who walked the busy town square were unshaven, weather beaten and rugged but their tall, upright demeanor suggested that they were to be taken seriously. The muskets, pistols and gunpowder pouches suggested that they were hunters, and their dirty clothes confirmed that they had spent days out in the wilderness.

The blonde man who walked in the middle had developed a golden tan from all the time in the sun and yet his eyes remained ice blue. While his posture was upright, his long strides were slow and showed slight signs of fatigue. There was no one in the town square who could look at him and guess that the man was no other than Prince Leopold, and the hunting party were actually his undercover bodyguards.

Even in unstable times like these, it was not unusual for Leopold to go for his hunts. Ever since he was eleven, he had accompanied his father, King Philip on these expeditions and now it was up to him to carry the tradition. It was unusual for him to walk the town square in this unrecognizable state, but he did so because he wanted to get a feel of the place. There were intelligence reports that some of the major businesses in town were closing in anticipation of an incoming war, and he wanted to take a look at the overall mood in town.

Not far from him was the fruit vendor, a balding man selling apples and berries. The prince approached him and picked up five of his finest apples. Then he pulled out his currency pouch and passed him five gold shells, one for each apple. The man, taken aback by this generosity, stared up and down at Leopold,still unable to recognize that the man he examined was the Prince himself. "Thank you, sire!" he said in gratitude.

Leopold nodded and walked towards his men and said, "Gentlemen, fresh apples to enjoy before we reach home."

Suddenly there was movement behind him and when he turned, he saw her. She was a bronze skinned woman with dark eyelashes, and long, black, wavy hair. There were prettier women in the marketplace that day but this one had a figure that would make a man feel uncomfortable. The Prince could not help but imagine her without clothes and the woman sensed his gaze upon her. She turned around, their eyes met and she gave him a dirty look, as if she had figured him out. Then she walked away leaving the prince mesmerized by the narrowness of her waist and sway of her hips.

Leopold looked around and the market place was as busy as usual. His men were busy eating their apples. "Fellows, I am going into that alley and I do not wish to be followed," he said. The men looked at him in bewilderment but none were more surprised than his guard commander Sir Marcus Frostbane. These were dangerous times and as incharge of his security, it was his job to protect the Prince.

"I do not think that would be wise, Sire. This place could be crawling with spies and ..." before Frostbane could finish, he was silenced by Leopold.

"This is a direct order. Stand guard at the entrance to the ally but do not follow," Prince Leopold repeated himself.

"Yes Sire! Men!" Marcus Frostbane replied and then turned towards his men. They began to spread out to cover the alley as the Prince rushed into the alley. In their minds, they had all convinced themselves that the prince had seen something suspicious, something in need of a closer investigation but what exactly? No one knew.

The prince went into the narrow alley that sloped upwards. He had seen the woman go in there, and as he walked up the slope, he realized that the lane that he walked, led up to the bawdy houses that made up the scandalous,"red lantern" district of the town. "A bordello girl? That explains her seductive charms," he thought to himself.

He was approaching the turn when he suddenly heard the rattle of wheels and racing hoofs from around the corner, and stepped aside just in time to avoid being overrun by a horse driven buckboard. The speed with which the horses appeared from around the corner, startled not just the prince but the rider too, a woman. Standing on the buckboard with reins in her hand was no other than the woman herself, her dark hair flying behind her.

She brought the buckboard to a standstill right next to the prince, and looked at him with daggers drawn in her eyes. Then she addressed him with disdain, as if she was a queen addressing a clumsy subject. "Sir, will you please stay off of the center of the street?"

Leopold examined her posture up and down. The tight leather corset accentuated the inward curve of her waist, but it also pushed up the upper swells her breasts.Leopold gave himself a moment to absorb her untamed charms and then replied respectfully, "Pardon me Ma'am, but if you had let me know that you intend to use the street as a race track, then I would have been well out of your way."

She jerked her head back slightly with sudden shock. "Are you implying sir, that I am not a lady?"

Leopold took a deep sigh and replied, "A lady? Well a lady is taught to be respectful of other people and she does not try to run them down with a buckboard. And, if she ever comes close to that, she will stop and apologize. But above all, a lady will never be seen riding out of a bordello!"

That last line hit her like a slap. Anger started to build up in her eyes and then she yelled, "How dare you, you pathetic ..." then she picked up the horse whip and struck him furiously but he was expecting it. He threw up an arm and blocked it around his forearm. Then he brought his arm down and twisted it around the whip to pull it off of her hand. The move got her off balance and she fell forward from the buckboard straight into his arms and he caught her.

She looked at him with eyes that were wide with fear and astonishment. He looked down into her upturned face, her wide eyes and her parted lips. Then he noticed how her chest rose and fell with heavy breathing. "It takes a lot more than beauty to be a lady. You have fire in you." he spoke looking into her eyes.

"Let me go!" She whispered, clenching her teeth.

Leopold did just that and she fell flat into the pavement. "Damn you!" she said as she struggled on her feet and then they both heard the sounds of footsteps approaching from behind. It was his guard contingent making their way up the hill. They had violated a direct order but he had just survived a road accident so could he blame them?

The woman got on the buckboard and rode away as they approached."Sire, are you okay? We heard the sound of startled horses," said Marcus.

"I am perfectly fine Marcus. Perfectly fine," said the prince as put his hands in his pocket while looking at the buckboard disappearing after turning into the main road. Suddenly he noticed that both his pockets were empty! The pouch of gold coins that he had kept in his pockets after purchasing the apples, was gone! Stolen! "Did you notice that woman with the horses? That woman just stole my purse!"

***

When Apocalypse sailed into the port of Hildgar, Jaber Zoltani had no idea that King Philip Benedict was dead. As a sea raider, Zoltani had been out at sea for almost a month and by the time his sail ship arrived at the wharf, the world had changed. Since Leopold and and his sister Vicaria had both divided territories and stopped trade, outbound vessels were being seized at the Vicarian port. Zoltani knew that his vessel had no chance of sailing out of this wharf unless she carried the flag of Princess Vicaria, or "Queen Vicaria" as she had declared herself.

Jaber Zoltani was a pirate and a mercenary. He had no loyalties to anyone but his ship, and was open to selling his services to the highest bidder. But Vicaria was not a woman to be taken lightly. As an inductee in the Order of the Blood Lotus, Vicaria enjoyed a large following outside of her royal status. As a child, she was sent to the Blood Lotus society to become a healer and to study their arcane arts. After many years of committing herself to the female order, it was believed that she now had the eyes that many women in this secret society sought to achieve. The eyes that commanded obedience!

Most men were afraid to look into her eyes for it was believed that she could break any man's will with those ice blue eyes alone. But then, there were those who worshiped her for the same powers. Even before her father's death, Vicaria had assumed a lot of authority in the court and many attributed it to her eyes. Others regarded it all to be a superstition, but what was obvious to everyone was the power she now held in the Kingdom over her younger brother and the traditional heir to the throne.

The harbor master looked at Jaber Zoltani from head to toe. He was a stern faced man, not exceptionally tall but not short either. His cheekbones were wide and rose high up on his face, almost permanently casting his deep set eyes into a shadow. Meanwhile, his chin was sharp and narrow and this gave a sharp, triangular appearance to his face. But it wasn't just his face that was triangular. His wide shoulders met with narrow hips replicating the triangular appearance and there was something threatening about this man, like he was about to do something dangerous. "Are you the owner of this vessel?" The harbor master asked Zoltani.

"Yes I am," Zoltani replied.

"You are to appear in front of the queen. Her highness has demanded that you be brought to her at the earliest."

Jaber knew what this would be about. She will force him to sail for her and sink targets but Jaber wanted none of that. As an independent raider, he liked selecting his own targets, executing his own raids and being the captain of his own destiny. He was not the one to align himself to anyone's cause. But at this point, he had no choice.

The coastal fortress where he was taken to meet the queen was the Kraken's Wall. The steep stone wall originated from the ocean floor and rose upwards. Coastal units that guarded the wall could fire on any approaching ship with cannons and muskets. The narrow, northern passage to the Kingdom of Ambrosia passed so close to the fortified wall that no ship could reach any of the ports without coming into the line of fire from the walls.

It was this coastal fortress that was serving as a make-shift "palace" for the self-appointed queen and it was here that the pirate was to meet Vicaria. It was a long walk through the guards to meet the queen, and Jaber observed the walls and the troop deployment along them as he walked. The wall that faced the ocean had canon placements every hundred feet, with pikemen and musketeers positioned in between. Then he saw her.

Princess Vicaria, or "Queen" as she referred to herself, was taller than most women and domineering, in her stature. Her hair was silver blonde, so light that they were almost white and she had piercing blue eyes that were enticing to look into but forbidden, for they would claim your soul. Her shoulders were wide, and the wolf-fur that covered them was almost as white as the shade of her hair.

Jaber Zoltani was brought to stand before her and he found his eyes wandering. He examined her neck and allowed his eyes to wander downwards until they rested on her chest. Beneath the silver wolf fur that covered her shoulders, the queen was wearing a low neckline that displayed her bust nicely. Her breasts were perfectly proportioned to fit her toned and muscular frame. They were not large but not small either and riding proudly high on her chest. Had they been any larger, they would have spoilt her aesthetic symmetry.

She looked at him closely, waiting for his eyes to meet her own, but the pirate was too busy examining her feminine proportions to pay attention to her eyes. She waited for him to meet with her in the eyes but the man was too mesmerized. "Look into my eyes now Pirate!" She commanded.

His eyes went up to meet hers briefly, and then went down again to study the gentle swell of her chest. "Your highness has other attributes that are more worthy of my attention than your eyes, ma lady!" he said, keeping his eyes on her chest.

"Manners! Or I will cut your tongue out," Barked Sir William McTyre, the leader of the Queen's guard.

Jaber Zoltani looked at Sir William calmly and replied, "She won't like that. This tongue can give her highness an orgasm that no man's dick is capable of!" Then he winked at the queen and took his tongue out, moving it up and down as if simulating oral sex.

"Vulgar beast!" yelled Sir William McTyre as he pulled out his sword, and within a second, so many of the queen's guards had their swords out. "Lower your gaze before I run you through," he roared as he approached Jaber with his blade.

Jaber Zoltani approached Sir William, grabbed the hilt of his sword and kicked him in the belly. Sir William fell backwards losing his sword and when everyones returned to the pirate, he had Sir William's sword in his hands. Pointing it to the rest of the guards he said, "If you wish to surrender your eyes to this lass then you can. My eyes take orders from no one except me and I will look at her the way I want to."

Queen's guards came to Jaber from all sides and the pirate knew that if he got surrounded, then it would be over. His only choice was the narrow stairs that ran parallel to the fortified wall, leading all the way up. He ran up the stairs causing the men to follow. The stairway was so narrow that the queen's guards had to form a single file to pursue him. When they were half way up, Jaber turned around and faced them with sword in hand. Being in a narrow file, they could only engage him one at a time and the guard in the front was no match. He crossed swords with Jaber only for a few seconds before Jaber struck him in the leg. As he dropped on his knee in pain, Jaber kicked him off the side of the stairs and he landed on the floor below with a thud.

The man behind him stepped up the stairs to take his place but Jaber had the higher ground. Their swords clashed only a few times and then Jaber knocked the sword out of his hand. He watched it spin a few times and then land on the ground below and the moment his eyes returned to Jaber, the pirate placed his foot on his chest and kicked him back with all the force. The disoriented guardsman fell backwards into his own men and the whole line started to fall backwards like dominos.

There was commotion above the wall now. Soldiers manning the top of the wall had noticed the brawl and were descending down the same stairway to capture Jaber. Trapped and being approached from both sides, the pirate jumped from the middle of the stairway and landed on the ground below. After getting back on his feet, he ran to the edge of the stairs. The entire line now turned around but found themselves trapped behind the last man, who Jaber had now engaged in the sword fight.

When it came to fighting in confined spaces, the pirate was a master swordsman for he had grown up fighting, not on land, but on the narrow decks of the ship, often jumping from rope to rope. Regardless of how many men he faced, he would always attempt to position himself where they would run into each other and he would fight only one man at a time. The pikemen and the queen's guard were disciplined troops, trained to fall in large rectangular formations and trained to hold those spread out formations until the last man, but this was not their contest. The elusive nature of this sword fight was outside the scope of their training and it showed when Jaber ran his sword through the belly of the man he engaged in the sword fight. He fell on his knees and then another fellow stepped down the stairs to take his spot. A few other men jumped from the side of the narrow stairway and landed on the floor and then started to gang-up on the lone pirate.

Jaber turned around in search of higher ground and saw barrels after barrels of gunpowder arranged in the shape of a large pyramid. He turned around quickly and ran with the crowd of guards chasing after him. Like a panther, he started climbing up the pyramid until he reached the top. As others began to climb after him, he waited for the first man to reach the top and when he did, Jaber kicked him in the face causing him to roll down the pyramid. The man took a few others and he went and they all came crashing down, cursing and swearing.

Multiple muskets were raised to shoot at him but no one dared pull the trigger. The pirate had positioned himself on top of barrels and barrels of gunpowder and a blazing hot musket round could land in there and cause an explosion. No one wanted to risk that with the queen so close. Instead they tried to climb up the barrels to reach the top where Jaber had already secured himself in a position to knock whoever was the first to reach. Finally, as Jaber attempted to kick one of the heads that had popped up, the man dodged the boot and grabbed the pirate by his legs. As he raised his sword to strike, the man pulled him from the ankle causing him to lose balance. By the time Jaber regained his footing, two men had taken the top of the pyramid and a sword fight ensued.

Knowing that it was already two against one with more and more guards reaching the top, Jaber leaped from the top of the pyramid, over the heads of the climbing men, down on the ground and then rolled in the dust. The fight had left him exhausted and he no longer had the same speed. Before he could stagger on his feet, the queen's guards jumped on him from all sides and within seconds he was pinned against the wall. Thus a man, who had successfully taken down so many of the queen's finest, was finally disarmed and captured.

Forced on his knees and held from both his arms he looked down in defiance until his hair was grabbed from behind and his head tilted up. He saw the intimidatingly beautiful face of queen Vicaria, with silver blonde hair and her enchanting blue eyes looking down at him. "You can fight all you want but this is where it will always end ..." she said in a deep and husky, almost manly voice, looking down at him. Her ample breasts were in line with his face and she pulled her wide shoulders back to jut them out further. She was looking down at him from behind the gentle mounds, her blue eyes positioned above them so that even if he stared at her chest, he would still not be able to escape those eyes. The pirate was now in custody.

***

"That woman had planned it all Rupert," said Prince Leopold as he looked at the balding police chief who sat in his office writing notes. "She had seen me pay the fruit vendor with gold coins so she knew exactly the pocket in which I would keep my pouch. Then she intentionally bumped into me with her vehicle, caused a scuffle and was gone!"

Chief Rupert looked at him with the eyes of a bald eagle, "And sire, you say that this woman had dark hair and was riding a buckboard while standing?

"Yes."

Chief Rupert took a deep breath and scribbled something on the paper. "Forgive me for asking this Sire, but did this woman have a good figure?"

Leopold stared at him and Rupert met his eyes. Then Leopold smiled. "Yes. That is our woman Rupert."

Chief Rupert closed the book with an air of decisiveness. "Celeste from the Red Entrance."