Once a King Pt. 19

Once a King

Part 19 Preparing the Way

(Thanks again to my editor Kenji Sato for his patience with this author

It was not until the evening meal, that Lena reappeared. Unlike the other wise women, she wore long, silky drawers and a very fine, red embroidered shirt that reached to her knees.

She looked very tired. Still, her eyes smoked with passion, as she looked at me over the dinner table. She spoke not a word.

Anastasia gave Lena a look, as an older sister to a younger, or a mother to her daughter—sympathetic, but yet, exasperated. "Lena...you must pull yourself together. This situation is novel for all of us, especially Pawel."

As though seeing Anastasia for the first time, Lena looked startled and then fiercely focused. "Big Sister, you did not experience the depth of strangeness, that I did, from the Magic of our King."

"Lena," I timidly ventured to respond, ''I was unaware of having any power over you. Indeed, I felt it was your power...YOU that invaded my body."

Lena stared at the floor, then Anastasia and lastly Calina...it seemed she dared not risk looking at me.

Finally, eyes downcast, "I never expected such a thing—two magicians, each conquering the other, both losing the battle and yet both winning. How can such a thing be?"

Lena's tone was less accusatory, more bewildered. Her world was limited to Bagnisko, her magic...that of herself and her 'sisters.'

I was struggling to see myself as a Magician. The People were...well, the People. They were all I knew, besides the settled ones, but they were at the edge of our experience. The men of the Bull had their magic, their 'religion', their cult of the Bull. The People had changed. As they were nearing extinction, their powers had increased. I could see that now. The Council, speaking as one, our stand against the men of the Bull, though futile, it brought our 'magic' to its maturity.

Genowefa had great power; that of the Council was more subtle. But here...only the 'Sisters', the wise women, had any special powers.

Dinner passed in silence. Even the playful Calina, did not attempt to lighten Lena's mood. Lena did not eat...she did consume the Bagnisko samahon...not like Gustek's; it looked and smelled as though infused with berries. Lena drank so that her lips were stained purple. The purple stained the front of her fine, red shirt causing some of the colors in the embroidery to bleed.

It was late, and without conversation to extend the evening, I went to bed. Tonight, I did not need Anastasia's assistance.

Anastasia and Calina went off to bed together. Anastasia's strong hands on Calina's buttocks...they were also tipsy, but only slightly from the cider they consumed with the meal...

I slept without the nightgown of the night before...it still seemed impossibly luxurious, with my bare skin caressed by the feather bedding and fine sheets.

Before I slept, I could hear the soft laughter from Calina, and later her moans, as she responded to Anastasia's caresses. Then some silence and a sharp intake of breath and an unrestrained yelp in what I could tell was Anastasia's voice. In the ensuing silence, I could hear Lena snoring...still at the dining table.

I drifted off to sleep...a sleep full of stypia images. The night sky of the stypia...the deep darkness pierced by a million stars. The glow of the dawn as the hunters made fire to make our tea, the only meal, if the day's hunt proved unsuccessful.

The cool morning air on naked limbs. The release of a hot, strong piss steaming in the morning chill. The stiffness of the limbs as the hunt started...the warming of the muscles as the sun rose, and the loping stride of the approach to the hunting ground, invigorated mind and body. The first sighting of the game...the stalking, the kill...or attempted kill...the stench of a badly gutted animal...The cleansing of the meat, the skinning of the carcass...The joyful weight of the game being carried to camp for cooking, or drying into jerky.

The rare pleasures of the summoning. The smell and the feel of the Coicie...the few WOMEN I had known...I took heart that they all had pleasure from knowing me as I had joy of them and the memory of them.

In the memory of them, I awoke...early...late for the stypia but early in Bagnisko. I was still new to the feeling in my body, the way it behaved without the control of the coicie. The morning arousal was still a novelty.

Skryba laughs...He has known this since he was a growing boy. But to a man of the People, it was a wonder to experience in young manhood.

I was also, I noted, now being observed by Anastasia.

Or so I thought. The look on Anastasia's face was no different than the one she would wear, if she had come upon a naked horse. Her lack of 'appreciation' of the condition of my body was oddly relaxing, as I left the bed to greet her, still naked, still aroused.

It was Anastasia who spoke first. "It is time we...you and I must prepare your WAY."

Seeing the puzzlement in my eyes, Anastasia explained. "The King must trod the WAY when he goes to the Women during the Time of Fertility. The WAY is the King's WAY. It was built in the time of the first King...many mistakes were made with the first King...some were corrected during his reign; others were dealt with by the Wise Women of the time in the Ritual Books they left for the US (The Wise Women of the present).

The Way was constructed during the first King's reign. It was a sacred path only the King may trod on, during the Time of Fertility. But it had not been maintained, we never knew when, or if, a new King would come."

I heard some sniggering in the background that was clearly Calina.

Anastasia restrained herself from rolling her eyes, at Calina's turn of mind. Calina was not concerned solely with making love to women.

Calina stole a glance from behind Anastasia...on seeing my nakedness and arousal, she arched her eyebrows and blew a kiss of appreciation in my direction.

"Calina, please see that Lena is made presentable for her sacrifice later today."

Calina wrinkled up her nose in distaste. "I DO get all the fun jobs around here."

"Would you rather clear brush and replace paving stones?" retorted Anastasia.

"I would, if it didn't mean calluses on my hands and scratches on my legs. But, Lena is so foul!"

I wondered at this exchange...soon enough, I would find the reason.

Anastasia took charge again..."We have only a short time to prepare the Way for the King...I cannot do it alone...these two are not fit for such work, and you revered Lord must be prepared for the time of fertility."

I hazarded a jest, "So a life of indolence until the Time of Fertility is out of the question?"

Anastasia replied, "In our law, technically you are King only in the Time of Fertility...more importantly, you must be seen by the women as something, someone both familiar and exotic."

"And how can I be both?"

"You must appear strong and fit; the women are used to men who spend their days in physical labor...they would not recognize or respect a soft man."

"Yes, indeed," quipped Calina..."who wants a soft man."

"Go and prepare Lena, already!"

"And the exotic?" I asked.

"Well, you are shorter than the men here, which is unusual, and you have other...ahem...attributes...that they lack."

"Again, I don't know what makes me special compared to the men of Bagnisko.'

"All will be explained in good time."

"Now dress for work." Anastasia thrust on me a heavy, leather kilt, which other than stout sandals, would be my only garb through many hours of labor.

Donning the kilt over my nakedness and fastening the sandals, Anastasia and I exited the house in time to see Calina begin to prepare Lena for her day.

The larger Calina struggled with a limp, barely conscious Lena.

Lena was still in her scarlet shirt and fine drawers...but not for long.

It was obvious that she had wet and soiled her drawers during the night. Even at a distance, the smell was distasteful.

Calina stripped Lena efficiently, depositing her things into a large tub of soapy water.

Using buckets of cold water, she proceeded to repeatedly douse Lena, the sputtering shock elicited elaborate curses from Lena. As the filth was sluiced off her body, Lena turned her gaze on me...suddenly aware of my presence. Instead of shame, or embarrassment, she cast me a look of defiance. See me...look at me...I am not for pity...I am LENA, and I am formidable.

The dawn light played on her skin, and a glamor enveloped her...

Her spell was cast on me...Anastasia and Calina observed my sudden arousal, and almost-immediate climax.

Anastasia's dispassionate comment was, "We will have to work on that...the King needs to be trained to retain his seed until the proper moment."

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