Pleasure Knight

The smaller branches that were all around us were like whips, like swords, like needles, ever ready to stab me in the eyes. Like ropes that waved in the morning wind, just waiting for me to put my head in the wrong loop and so garrote me.

I was relieved when the walkway finally ended. We came out on a large, almost flat space where the most massive branches of the tree spread out to create a world of its own up here in its crown. The living tree floor was large enough to hold the courtyard of a mansion carved out of the still huge, central trunk of the tree. It was a tower more than ten floors tall, with knotholes for windows. They seemed to glow with the steady heartbeat of the soul of the tree itself.

The woman with the red ponytail didn't even turn around to look at me, didn't show me her eyes. Not even when she reached the door, a thick carpet of leaves, not even when she reached up to ring a small, silver bell. It sounded strange, the only metal object up here.

Nothing happened. She rang again. Still, no-one came. The woman began giggling as if to accompany the bell which she shook continually. It was as if she enjoyed tormenting and waking up she who dwelt within.

After a long, long time the vines that kept the leafy door shut were loosened and the door slid open.

-

She was tall, taller than Poppy. Almost my height, and she was all woman even though she was ancient. Forty years old or something. She had dark, brown, long, and wavy hair without a single gray, and she was wearing a dressing gown where the belt was tied with the loosest knot I had ever seen. The garment did its best to hide as little of the naked, chocolate brown female parts inside.

That would have been bad enough for a poor, young man like me, who had already been exposed to his share of the female gender this night, but things were not to stop there. Oh, no.

After a quick, slightly irritated yet mellow "Flame! Why are you bothering me so early?" she spotted me and my sorry condition. She did what one would expect every woman with a heart would do: Come running up to me, put an arm around me, and lift my chin with a gentle hand to look into my eyes.

To do that she had to stand close. Real close. That woke me as readily as a slap across the face. Strange, since there was nothing even remotely erotic about what she did, nothing but concern for me.

On her part, that is. I, being the dirty man I was, held a different opinion. In desperation I pulled my head free and looked around.

-

Inside the hollow, living trunk was a huge hall, so tall that it reached at least five floors up. Everywhere there was water dripping. Everywhere there were pools and bowls and basins that the water trickled into, then out of, on its long journey from the leafy canopy high above where it was slowed down and collected, then snaking it way down the irregular walls, and finally disappearing in small cracks and holes in the floor.

There were water lilies and other flowers growing in the pools. Thee mansion had no need for lamps, since each pool glowed and pulsated with its own color, all following the same, slow rhythm. They sparkled as a faint wind coming from outside made tiny waves across their surfaces. It was a dream house filled with the scent of feminine power and beauty.

-

"What's wrong?" She brushed my hair and stared into my eyes. "You look... Not drunk. Drugged."

"I..." I said.

"I found him down on the yearning lawn," the woman called Flame said, her face still hidden from me.

"What?" Lady Deep Shadow, or so I sincerely hoped it was, exclaimed. "You made him walk all the way up here without help?"

"Oh, no," Flame said. "In the beginning I made him come crawling after me. Then, alas!, he managed to get on his feet."

At last she turned to look at me.

-

Flame could not be human. It was impossible for any woman to be that beautiful without some demonic heritage or mighty sorcery. Her skin was so pale and her eyes so green they would make any painter or sculptor cry himself to sleep, knowing he could never duplicate it even if he worked himself to the bone. She wore a face so innocent and sweet that even I, who had heard her cruel suggestions and had been trodden into the dirt by her, could not believe she had a single mean thought in her head. Was she some kind of strange fairy out of the Wild? The kind that lured males to them, imprisoned them, used them for mating, and them ate them?

"Please, sir, come!" The woman who might be Lady Deep Shadow led me over to a chair and sat me down. It was not a very deep chair and she did not loom over me trying to push her body down on me. A nice change of pace, for once. "I apologize for my apprentice. We are constantly trying to teach her those things her mother must have left out of her education."

Flame curtsied, which made her ponytail swing back and forth like a sleek, silken scarf.

I wanted to reach over and stop it. I wanted to let it run through my fingers. I wanted to place my hands on her buttocks and pull her close with it, wanted to caress her body and look so deep into those emerald eyes that I lost my mind.

And she knew it. She lowered her lashes a fraction of an inch in response to my burning glare, and just knew it.

"My name is Deep Shadow." The dark woman sat down on a chair a few feet away. "May I ask who you are and how I may help you?"

When a woman sits down she invariably adjusts her clothes. Pulls at the hem of her dressing gown to cover more of her legs. Closes it to hide her bosom. It's a unconscious act, but men exposed to the practice don't see it as such.

"This, my Lady Deep Shadow," Flame said with mock reverence, "is the most brave and valiant Sir Weed, Wanderer of Glory Hill. We should be honored to make his acquaintance."

"Stop that!" There was fire in Lady Deep Shadow's eyes as well. "Make yourself useful and go and bring our guest refreshments, if you please."

"Oh, I do want to please our guest." She half-turned, making sure my eyes were on her, then sauntered away, getting lost among all the gleaming pools, her hair a red ribbon waving goodbye.

-

"Did that rude apprentice of mine introduce you correctly?" Lady Deep Shadow asked.

I nodded and smiled. Smiled for real for the first time since I had rung the bell at the gate. With Flame out of view and the Lady in a chair out of foot-caressing distance, I could finally relax. It wouldn't last, though. Lady Deep Shadow was a beautiful, older woman, and I couldn't even remain close to those for long without tensing up in one way or the other. Besides, Flame would soon return.

"I come from Glory Hill," I said. "On the orders of the Oracle of Silver Lake. She... Apparently she made a prophecy about half a year ago. One that was important. Very important. Very, very," I wasn't sure if I should add another 'very,' but I did, "very important. It was decided that someone had to travel to Perfume Hill and seek help."

"Seek help? From who? Me?" She looked confused.

"Yes."

"Why? I don't deal with martial matters at all, that's the business of the lionesses. Strange. What did it say, this prophecy?"

She adjusted her dressing gown again. Was her legs ever long! I wish I could be on Poppy's couch with Lady Deep Shadow in front of me. I wished I could kiss and fondle that flawless, brown skin. I wished I could pull her down onto me and use the soft couch to bounce her up and down on me until... Until nothing happened. Of course.

Did she make me suffer this much because she didn't try to flirt with me? Was I thinking these thoughts out of sheer stupidity? Refusing those who came on to me and lusting after those who didn't? And was I careful to remember that her eyes were up there?

"Sir Weed?" She had to remind me. How embarrassing.

"Oh, the prophecy?"

"Yes?"

"Eh..." I had, of course, not been present when the prophecy had delivered. Or put down on paper. Or read by the Captains. Still I had, eventually, been told it. Not just asked to deliver it in a sealed letter. I was proud of that. I cleared my throat:

"The Evil One. The Ruler. The Queen. The Great Mistress of the World. She has woken up. She is stirring. She is opening her eyes. Beware! She is in the Wild. She is in the Wind. She is in the Women. Beware! The Evil Sister has come to Rule. Release the Weed of man to the Lady of Flowers. Seek with her the Elixir of Life, or be destroyed."

Lady Deep Shadow looked at me for a long while. This time I kept my eyes squarely on her face.

"Uh..." I spoke because I don't like long silences. Especially after I have said something. "I guess you know who the Evil Sister-" Yes, stupid. Everyone knew that. "Uh..." I went on. "I don't know what that Elixir of Life..."

As a matter of fact I didn't know very much. When you are with a woman that looks as wise as Lady Deep Shadow, you feel that you will soon hit her with disappointment like that large stone you toss off a cliff when you think that no-one is down below. Her eyes were so serious and attentive!

"...is but I guess it's some kind of magical potion? Or, the Captains guess it's some kind of-"

I had never thought I would be relieved to see Flame again, but now she appeared between us carrying three small cups and some fine, white wafers on a silver tray. As well as a angelic leer, if that is possible, on her unearthly beautiful face. Perhaps I was more excited than relieved?

She first served her mistress, which meant she had to, or chose to, bend with her backside pointing towards me. Then she came over, grasped my eyes, and forced them to meet hers, like a little boy pushed into the boxing ring to face a prize fighter. The eyes came closer and closer. I opened my mouth, entranced. Her ponytail slid across her back as she bent forward, slithered over her right arm only to stop and dangle a few inches above my thigh.

"Please enjoy," she whispered, "Sir Weed."

The hair almost whipped me across the face as she turned around. When I managed to convince my brain that there were other things it could do than drool all over Flame's back, I found that she had somehow left a cup and three wafers on a smallish table tray attached to the right armrest.

"Flame, what are you doing?" Lady Deep Shadow's voice was weary.

"My job, to the best of my abilities."

"Then don't do you job. This is neither the time nor place for these games."

"Another time and place then... Sir Weed." She kissed the last two words at me.

Lady Deep Shadow sighed and adjusted her robe again. Lots of lovely skin was reduced to a few inches of lovely skin, and it was my time to adjust my garments. My pants, to be precise. Why, oh why had I been chosen for this mission?

I imagined an official letter from Lady Deep Shadow to Captain Fury, master of the Questors, wondering why his emissary went around with an incurable erection each time a female was around.

"Cheers," was all she said at the moment, lifting her cup and taking a sip.

So did Flame, standing demurely to attention, head slightly cocked so that her ponytail could be draped over her shoulder and follow the shape of her firm breasts down to her waist. I hesitated, looked at my cup. Flame winked at me. I hesitated some more.

"What's the matter?" Lady Deep Shadow asked. Did she seem a little hurt?

Getting that look from the only really friendly person I had met here today made me blurt out everything that had happened to me since I rang the silver bell at the gate, ending with Poppy trying to drug me.

-

"Poppy?" Lady Deep Shadow looked from Flame to me. "I can't believe it! Poison? Still.. Is that why he was so out of it when you found him, Flame?"

"He was about ready for my leash." She giggled.

I threw a quick look at Lady Deep Shadow. By the Lady, this was embarrassing.

"That's enough, Flame. I am sure you have other duties to attend to than tormenting this poor fellow. Or some bed to seek out. Your own or someone else's, I don't care."

Flame giggled some more, burned a hole in my soul with her emerald eyes, ensuring I would not forget her soon, and strode out of the trunk-house with her head held high. I wondered if she ever wore it otherwise.

-

"She's my single, biggest headache," Lady Deep Shadow said. "Completely unable to adjust, but the best herbalist I ever met." She clasped her hands together. "Let's talk, Sir Weed. Don't drink if you don't trust me, but let's talk."

I chose to taste the liquid. Mostly because I wanted to trust this sensible, kind woman, but also because I didn't have a choice.

She was the only reason I had traveled endless miles of forests and rowed up enormous floods to get here. If she wasn't playing fair, then my mission had already failed. Later, I also drank because the wine tasted like flowing joy.

"First, I believe I have to apologize for the behavior of my apprentices for the second time this morning. I have only five of them, and hope the rest don't cause you any grief. The problem with Poppy is that she is very ambitious. To put it bluntly, she wants to be me. Have my power. Be party to all my secrets. Have her advice heeded on all matters. Who knows, maybe we will discuss this with her later? But enough about her. Right now I would appreciate it if you interpreted those words for me."

"Words?" Another garment adjustment confused me. This time somewhere below her throat. Lady Deep Shadow sure had long, graceful hands.

"The prophecy."

"Oh," I said. "That."

"Yes." She smiled. "That. The reason you came here, no?"

"Uh, I am not... I wasn't part of.."

She waited patiently, for a while. Some people wait patiently for too long and just make you feel more and more lost. Lady Deep Shadow interrupted me before I broke down completely.

"You mean that the old and wise men and women back home spent weeks mulling over the words, but that you were only given a quick summary of their conclusions? The light reading variant?"

I nodded.

"That's good, because it's far too early for me to learn anything complicated." She flipped her dark, brown hair back and ran her fingers through the wavy curls. "I should get dressed. But it can wait. Tell me."

"The, eh, Captains," I said, "decided that it would be prudent to send the Wanderer actually called 'Weed' on this mission. Apparently, they couldn't figure out what that word meant and decided to hedge their bets."

"I normally don't want weeds in my garden," Lady Deep Shadow said, "but I guess one woman's weed is another woman's flower? We all know the Evil Sister and all her titles, and how she is ravaging the Wild, turning them into Dead Lands... But what is the Elixir you mentioned?"

"The Elixir of Life? They... Uh, one assumed that you would know."

"Me?"

It was now bright day outside. The birds were singing all around. Including directly below me, which I had never experienced before.

"Yes. The Lady of Flowers. That would be you, right?"

"I guess. But the Elixir of Life? I don't know. Sounds like something the Sibyl herself might cook up. Healing arts?"

-

Lady Deep Shadow stretched. Her breasts were large and, oh!, so present as they moved beneath her dressing gown.

They reminded me of a woman I had once made love to, blessed with breasts even bigger than hers. One time she had crawled on top of me and placed herself on my manhood. Far too slow she had moved, far too teasing to one who lay and felt he was about to burst. She had let me slide out of her, almost, before coming down on me again, over and over in her own good time. Her breasts would bounce and slide against my chest, naked, sweaty, juicy. She had picked up speed and her eyes had begun to widen. Tossed her hair. Moaned and groaned.

I had felt as if I was falling upwards towards some enormous void that I could not quite reach, no matter how long I fell. My hands had been on her thighs, trying to make her go even faster. My own groans, deeper and louder, like that of an animal, mixing with hers.

At last she had transcended and burst into her own inferno of pleasure. The way she had moaned, almost crying, the way she had closed, then opened, her eyes as if she could not believe what she was seeing, had made me ache and yearn to feel it myself.

It hadn't happened. After the tremors had left her she had kept going, working on me like she was running mile and after mile to save someone she loved. She had bent down and let me taste her breasts. Let me lick her nipples, big and hard against my rough tongue. Pressed them so hard against my face that I almost slid out of her, that she could only ride the top of my shaft.

I had loved the feeling. Loved being smothered, loved how the breasts were so soft and warm against me. But I could not reach that final rapture and after a while she had slowed down. Exhausted.

I had told her I loved her. Told her I loved what she did.

She had nodded. Said she understood. Then she had picked up her clothes, covered herself. From then on everything had become awkward. But I still remembered her breasts, and I wondered if I might love Lady Deep Shadow's just as much.

-

"The Captains think the Elixir is some kind of potion used to increase one's vitality or strength, but..." I said.

"But you know that Wanderers are always concerned with martial matters. Elixir of Life? To me, that could bring a harvest beyond anything we can dream of? Perhaps. What do I know? I don't think I can help you, though. Even though I wish I could. I really do."

She made as if to rise, and I panicked. "But, but! The Oracle has spoken! She always tells the truth!" Now it was my turn to get out my chair. "We just need to find out what the Elixir of Life is! Maybe it is described in a book you have?"

"Maybe," she said. "But I have many, many books. Are you a scholar, perchance?"

"No, I-"

"So, how would you know where to start looking?"

"Uh... I thought you would-"

"Even though I just told you I don't?"

"Sorry, I..."

"It's fine." She smiled. Was probably used to foolish apprentices.

"What about your garden?" I decided to try again. Making a fool of myself was kind of my thing. "Maybe you already got all the plants you need to make the Elixir?"

"Maybe I do? Are you a gardener? Or a herbalist? Can you recognize such plants, if they do exist? You have seen the size of my garden."

She seemed honestly sorry for me and listened very patiently while I but-butted at her. I was even able to keep doing it until Flame somehow reappeared next to us and made me jump. Wicked smile on red lips, playful gleam in jade eyes.

"Didn't I tell you to find something useful to do?" Lady Deep Shadow asked.

"You did. Then I got bored, and now I am back."

"You are, are you?"

"I am. All done."

Lady Deep Shadow looked at me for a long time. "If you have nothing better to do, then you can bring us something else to drink, Flame. Something even better. Come, Sir Weed. Look out of my window."

She took my hand and led me over to a large crack in the enormous trunk. It truly was a room with a view. Someone had made sure that none of the enormous branches of the tree in any way obstructed the fabulous vista that was Perfume Hill and its graceful towers. I could feel awed by so much beauty. Or I could feel a little nervous that Lady Deep Shadow positioned herself behind me and that I could feel her dressing gown, but not her breasts, touching my shirt.

"What do you think of it?"

"Uh?" Your body?

"Perfume Hill!" I could sense her smile as if she had kissed my neck.

Perfume Hill was beautiful. It was as if the Ladies all had competitions going. Most beautiful building. Most serene garden. Most vivid colors. Most exotic fish in a pond. A tallest tower competition, even though they were the wrong gender for such compensatory activities.