Pleasure Knight

At last we came to a small hill. It was deep inside a forest, and so low that the surrounding trees towered over it. Green grass covered it, but nothing else grew there. Nothing but a single, strange tree at the top. And something that looked very much like a person lying down, resting under its branches.

-

"Sir Weed, my Pleasure Knight." Lady Deep Shadow stopped at the foot of the hill and looked at me for the first time since Flame had joined us.

Flame, though, had made sure I knew that she knew I couldn't take my eyes off them.

"Do you remember," Lady Deep Shadow went on, "the attempt on your life when you first came to join me?"

Did I? I couldn't, really. But I did remember that disagreeing or arguing with Lady Deep Shadow was risky business. "I am sorry, I have been so confused these last few days, and-"

"You were half-dead when Flame found you, remember?"

I still didn't. Not the half-dead part, anyway. At least I now understood what she was referring to, and so could say "Yes."

"You were the victim of the actions of a cruel, vicious woman, an ambitious bitch that stops at nothing, nothing!, to hurt me!" She was furious. Face flushed, hands shaking. "And you, my dear Pleasure Knight, was nothing to her! Just a nobody, a person to be murdered, sacrificed to her evil plots! But justice has been served. Look, Sir Weed! Look at the filthy wretch!"

We took a few steps up the hill, and I saw that what Lady Deep Shadow had said was technically true. Poppy was filthy from being covered in earth and mud, and she was so wretched as a woman could ever be.

-

I have heard that, deep down in the Wild, there grows a special kind of plant. It's called the gutfig and brings forth a fruit that both smells and tastes wonderful.

When a bird or animal eats it, however, it gets an irresistible craving for water. It drinks its belly so full it eventually ruptures and the liquid spills over into its guts. As the creature lies dying the seed starts to grow and sends a sapling out of some orifice on the victim, sprouting small white and blue flowers. While the creature is being eaten alive from the inside, roots are burrowing out through its skin and into the dirty, creating wounds that do not bleed, because there is no more blood left. Soon, the first small, delicious fruit are dangling from new, thin branches, ripening.

I had hitherto suspected the gutfig of being the ultimate bogeyman used to scare kids when they were taught not to eat any old kind of fruit lying about. Not anymore. It was real. At least it had to be a close cousin of the one who was now growing out of Poppy's ravaged bellybutton, stitching her to the ground with its eager roots.

This strain of plant didn't eat up its host immediately. This strain kept them alive for a long, long time.

-

Poppy's eyes were open, but what she saw, or thought, if she even could see or think, was beyond me.

I let go of Lady Deep Shadow's arm, didn't dare approach the tree together with the two others. My manhood shrunk as if being struck with a hammer and then plunged into icy water.

Poppy, that beautiful, lively, charming woman, lay crumpled up like a big, twisted rag doll. A rag doll in intense pain.

Horror stopped me dead. Shame stopped me. I had placed her in this predicament as surely as if I had forced the seed between her lips, jammed her mouth shut, and punched her in the guts until she swallowed.

Flame started to giggle when the woman at her feet uttered an almost inaudible groan.

"Sorry for laughing," she said, "but it's so wonderful to see you are finally able to devote all your time to your beloved plants." She clapped her hands in delight.

Lady Deep Shadow had followed Flame up to the tree. She looked down at the suffering woman, then up at the white and blue flowers.

"Why, I do believe some of these have ripened," she said. With that she picked a fruit, small and violent red, and started to eat it as daintily as if she was wearing a thick layer of lipstick at a formal dinner party. "Mmm... This was very good. Do you want one?" She faced me. "Just make sure you don't swallow the stones."

She flicked the fruit's core away. It landed in some bushes.

For a moment everyone was waiting for me to answer. I wasn't ready. Not yet. My sense of self-preservation was battling it out with my sense of decency. Horror, fueled by what I saw not twenty paces away and the two smiling, beautiful women next to it, struggled to choose side.

"No, thank you," I said after the eternity couldn't last any longer.

"No?" Lady Deep Shadow's face tightened.

"No, I don't feel... very hungry."

"Sir Weed, please join us and eat the fruit from this tree. It is delicious."

"I'd rather not."

"In that case..." Lady Deep Shadow employed that voice women use on their men when they have an audience. The 'wait until we are alone' voice. "I will remember your choice."

Silence fell. One that would have lasted for hours if Flame had not stepped into the taut line between our eyes. She didn't seem worried in any way, just a girl delighted to steal all the attention. "Don't rush it, Lady Deep Shadow. Poor Sir Weed doesn't know what's going on outside the wall, out on the Hill. He doesn't know Poppy was a spy, doesn't know who she is working for, doesn't know how jealous Lady Steel Rose is of you. Give him a few weeks, and he will be eating these succulent gutfigs out of your hand, my Lady. Won't you, Sir Weed?"

I hesitated and said: "I am confused." It wasn't the bravest thing I had ever uttered, but bravery wouldn't get me anywhere.

I contemplated attacking the two women but, apart from the fact that the idea was complete anathema to me, I had a feeling it wouldn't work out as I imagined, my martial training and skills aside. I could defeat Lady Deep Shadow as easily as all that, I was sure, but I was convinced Flame would be ready for me. She would be eager and curious to see what would happen, as if she ached to jump into an enclosure where she kept a chained up, starved, enraged bear and she was armed with a long, pointed stick.

"You'll make it clear to him in time, won't you?" Flame went on. "Or perhaps I could put him on my leash for a little while? I am sure I could turn him around, and fast. A few days at my feet and you would be enlightened, would you not? I just finished crafting a special kind of earrings just for you, Sir Weed. I bet you would love me when I wear them, don't you think?" She winked at me.

I had no idea what she meant, except that she had given me a short time to breathe. I had to do something, get away!, run!, but most of all I had to be alone and think.

-

When I was a page I had auditioned for a play, hoping to be awarded the role of Fireblade, the Hero of Triple Peak. I had tried out for the part along with some other, ambitious boys. The master of the theater hadn't said anything, but the next day I was encouraged to audition for Shoeray, his simplistic sidekick who gets killed early on. So, I did that. The day after, I read the few lines of a foolish shopkeeper who gets in Fireblade's way and also gets killed early on. Even earlier in fact. And by Fireblade. During rehearsals I found myself playing a silent bystander somewhere in Act II. By the premiere I was working behind the scenes, assistant to the boy who was in charge of the props.

The reason I tell this story is to point out that, when I pretended to be exhausted and faint, I might not have convinced Flame. Or Lady Deep Shadow. Or Poppy. Or the tree rooted in her guts.

It did get me back to the prison cell that was my room, though.

-

I spent the rest of the sunny day feeling like an idiot. That is something I can easily do for hours, but time was short and I needed to deal with a few, other pressing thoughts.

One of which was that Lady Deep Shadow was an insane, evil woman. Rather, both Flame and Lady Deep Shadow were insane, evil women, and I had no wish to be the judge of their 'most insane and evil woman' competition.

I wanted to get out. And if I was to get out, I had to bring with me the one woman I had met who had not been evil and insane. The woman I had ratted out. Who was busy dying. Who might be damaged beyond repair.

There was only one thing to do now, however, and that was to wait for night to fall. Later, when a maid brought me dinner, I pretended to feel awful, then wolfed it all down as soon as she had left. When Lady Deep Shadow stopped by later in the evening I snored as if trying to scare away all the birds in her garden as well as her.

It finally became dark, but I waited until that time when everyone in their right mind ought to be asleep. Before I left, I still checked all the cracks in the leaf walls to see if anyone was observing me. There was nothing right about the minds of anyone in this House.

That included myself, I mused as I discovered that the doorway was unbarred, sneaked out in my old, gray clothes, and climbed down a nearby ladder. Unfortunately, I thought as I moved into the garden, walked on tiptoes, kept my eyes and ears alert, and promptly lost my way, that might also include poor Poppy.

I had counted on getting lost, and so I had laid what I referred to as the 'bumbling idiot' plan. The garden, as far as I understood, was laid out as a broad belt covering a large section of the hillside of Perfume Hill itself. The Unicorn's Horn was almost always visible, which gave me a way of telling what was 'up' and 'not up,' as well as 'left' and 'right'. Poor Poppy, I had noticed, was in the 'upper right' part of the garden.

Which let this idiot get away with bumbling in a smaller area only. Thus I stood a fair chance of finding Poppy after only a few hours of blind stumbling about. If I found the deepest forests and looked for open patches, that would also help. The gutfig tree had been on some sort of knoll surrounded by tall trees after all. Every time I saw one of the small huts high up in a mighty tree, I shied away, keeping to the shadows.

-

It was while I was caught in a huge clump of very tall, very thick, very resilient, very, very thorny bushes that I heard a woman crying out softly in the night.

It had to be Poppy. She was still alive! Perhaps her mind was safe as well?

I managed to free myself without spilling more than a pint or two of blood and merely poking out three or four eyes. Then I bungled around until I found a path that sort of wound itself in the right direction.

The voice became clear and clearer. Poppy! I almost decided to run towards the sound, heedless of the noise.

I didn't, and for the first time since I rang the silver bell at the gate I had made a smart move. Soon it was clear that this was not a woman crying out in pain. She was deep in need. Poppy? Surely not! Or?

The sound now came from the right side of the path, and I was unsure if I should seek it out or just keep going. It was probably just an apprentice or maid up in her hut with her lover.

Yet the sound seemed to come from a small clearing. Was Poppy's little hill there? I could not hear a man's voice, only the rustling of trees.

Was it Flame with her? Had the redhead pulled some kind of trick on Poppy like she had on me? First hurt her but now making love to her? I wouldn't be surprised.

I was surprised. The woman in question wasn't Poppy. It was the full-figured apprentice whom we had seen when Poppy brought me to her hut, whom we had passed by in silence. Blossom?

Back then she had viewed us with an inscrutable, almost hostile look. Back then she had been wearing a dress. Back then she had been standing up. Now she was down on all fours on a small patch of lush grass surrounded by towering trees.

Below her, behind her, across her back, wrapping its branches around her throat and neck and arms like a gentle lover's embrace, forcing her legs apart like an eager lover might, was a bush. A low, thick bush with dark, green, glossy leaves and thick branches, rustling even though there was almost no wind.

The woman hardly moved, except when rocked by the bush. It was rocking violently, rocking insistently, rocking with a kind of rhythm that that no human lover could keep up for long. The bush had one, final branch. Short, thick, knobbly, gleaming wet in the moonlight.

Somehow, I got the feeling I shouldn't be there. Somehow, I wasn't able to move an inch.

After a little while the woman began to whimper. "Don't stop! Don't let me go! My love, my love, don't ever..."

She fell silent and her body started to quiver and shake. If the branches wrapped around her neck would have let her, she would have tossed her head from side to side. She groaned. A long, drawn-out groan followed by sobs as if she was about to break down and cry.

Her tremors eventually subsided, but the bush refused to stop rocking. She did not seem to mind, and I was not sure she would be able to free herself if she did.

Soon she began to whimper again. "So good, so good! Don't stop my love, don't stop. I need more, more. All night long for me, my love. All night! Don't stop."

What was this all about? A bush? For real? It was crazy. But, on the other hand, she was a Flower Girl and had a special affinity for plants. Maybe a very special, very close affinity? Perhaps I should be asking myself, 'Why not?'

Her breasts, large and soft, hang down, dangling back and forth, and I caught myself staring at them more often than I liked. She went back to moaning, and I went back to finding out I had been betrayed once more.

I was hard. I was watching a woman being made love to by a bush, and I responded to that by getting aroused by her voice and her mammary glands bouncing. I could think of only two things worse than this. The first was contemplating watching them while touching myself. The second was watching them while actually touching myself. I did the first, but not the second. The scene where I explained to Poppy exactly why I was delayed in rescuing her and so caused her even more suffering and permanent brain injuries was one I did not want to see played out.

I left the busty apprentice to her preferences and sneaked back into the forest, heading up towards the Unicorn's Horn and to the right. Soon after, I found the right clearing with the little hill, with Poppy, with the tree living in her.

-

I was glad it was dark. The sight of her emaciated body and the large, burst tumor that had once been her stomach almost sent me reeling.

I walked up the knoll, watched the faintly rustling leaves of the tree, taking care it wouldn't hit me if it tossed a fruit at me, watched her head to see if there was still life inside. As I went down on my knees beside her, I reached out with my hands to touch her sunken cheeks. Her eyes were feverish, her skin tight over her skull. her hair lank, her throat and shoulders bony. Lifting her would be like lifting a cat. A gutted cat.

There were ants crawling all over her. There were straws, leaves, needles on her skin and torn skirt, as if she already was part of the garden soil.

A thought struck me. Lady Deep Shadow hadn't sent Flame away for being rude to me that first night. She had been told to torture Poppy and ask her the why and what and how about me. On my word.

My fault. This was all my fault.

-

As soon as my fingertips touched her, her eyes lit up and her head turned to look at me.

Apparently her idea of getting back at me was to scare me so bad I got all the brain injuries I feared she had suffered.

"Poppy!" I whispered when I was able to breathe again.

Her eyes were like a pair of crystal blue pools after a pair of naughty boys had tossed big lumps of poisoned earth and muck into them.

"Poppy! Are you there? I am so sorry. Poppy, I am so sorry!"

She opened her mouth. She tried to speak. She licked her lips and tried again. Took a deep breath, closed her eyes, moved her tongue around in her mouth, then said: "Weed."

"Yes!" I said. "That's me. It's me. Me, that is."

"Yeah. I messed up. As usual."

"What? Huh?" I asked because I had no idea what she meant, not because I couldn't understand her even though her mouth sounded as if full of earth and gravel. Not that it was anything funny about that. Not at all.

"My pick up line: Show you my tits! Classic. I laugh so hard my leaves fall off."

"You... You..."

"Still got a sense of humor? Don't have much else." Her eyes rolled.

If this was a joke, then it was of the kind where someone slips on a banana peel, pratfalls down the stairs, and gets beaten up by three guys heading into a bar.

"I do make a beautiful tree," she wheezed. "Way to go, Poppy."

"W-What did they do to you?"

There was a pause. Then she gave me a smile like a clown's mask intentionally crafted to scare kids.

"Guess," she said.

"Yeah, stupid of me," I said. "Look. Listen, Poppy. I am going to get you out of this, all right? I haven't got an axe or anything, but I am strong. And angry. I can carry you, tree and all, out of here and across the wall. And I will. Trust me, I will."

She smiled again. Even though she looked like a corpse when you pull the edges of its mouth up, I could feel her warmth.

"Very romantic. But you can't. You will rip my guts out. Not very romantic. Go to Lady Steel Rose. Get help. If not for me, for you."

She seemed spent, her eyes glazed over, her muscles slackened. No wonder, that.

I sat by her for a little while, stroking her hair, kissing her cheek, just being close until she relaxed and, as far as I could tell, fell asleep.

I kissed her a final time, rose, then turned around to look for the encircling wall.

I didn't see no wall. Instead I saw Flame, standing at the foot of the knoll, smiling up at me in the moonlight.

I didn't see that smile. I didn't see her green eyes and red hair. I didn't see her holding a black metal collar in one hand and a leash in the other.

The only thing I saw were the pair of thick, golden hoop earrings that dangled on each side of her face. I saw them, fell forward on my face, and worshiped my Goddess.

-

The most humiliating thing wasn't that she made me take all my clothes off and get down on all fours. It wasn't that I had to stick my head out and wait as she put the collar on me. It wasn't that she talked to me as if I were a dog. It wasn't that she giggled as she tugged on the leash. Not that she did this in full view of Poppy, should she be awake. Not that I walked on all fours down the paths, up the ladders, along the walkways, and into a hut I didn't know if I had been in before or not.

No, the most humiliating thing was that I wanted it. That everything Flame did to me, made me do for her, was good and right and proper and so sexy I could barely endure it. My rod was so hard a blacksmith would be envious of my work. My eyes adored her, couldn't let her go. Lovely sex fairy from the Wild. The small woman with the wonderful green eyes and the sleekest, reddest hair ever worn by female.

And, the earrings. Oh, Lady! How they shone golden in the moonlight, like bright blood in the reddish light inside the hut. How my mind followed their every movement. How I wanted to feel their smooth surface bounce against my skin, to kiss Flame's neck, put my manhood through them, have her chain my wrists with them.

I had stumbled, I had been pricked, I had banged my head, and yet all I had seen and felt and cared about was her and them. Why did my pain matter? She was my Goddess, my everything.

It was just right that she should sit on the large chair, the throne!, in center of the room, which was made of some black, solid material that was as hard and heavy as iron and as smooth as polished wood. It was too big for such a small woman, but she filled it up with her beauty and her presence, looking down at me with eyes that burned.