Princess Jern and the Gargoyle

For close to an entire day, Jern had been hiking across the hilly highlands of central Snjórland, hauling a heavy rucksack over one strapping shoulder and a sheathed broadsword on the other all while clad from her neck to her feet in weighty metal mail; the crop of fiery, orange hair crowning her cranium being the most striking colour between the grey sky and dull grass in that vast, vacant landscape where she felt as though she was the only living soul for miles around. Indeed, the princess had yet to cross a single person since deliberately diverting off the trodden trail en route to her next ill-defined destination in an effort to shake off the pursuers sent by her father to retrieve her after departing from the kingdom's capital without his leave, though the only problem now was that she was unable to find her way back! And knowing not when she would happen upon a village, a town or even a farmstead did not help her anxieties as her surroundings steadily darkened with the day's wane...

Although an athletic young lady in her late teens, even Jern found lugging her burdens across the rolling terrain for such a prolonged period of time to tax her tolerance to its utmost, cursing herself for not hiring a page to take on the task in her stead when she had the opportunity - although a map and compass would perhaps have been the wiser investment in the long term - and just when she thought circumstances could not become any more unideal, the heavens burst open without warning and the warrior woman was deluged in a severe downpour. The princess briefly halted in place in total disbelief over her lack of luck, exhaling a loaded sigh as she was unable to think of a swear sufficient enough to convey her rising exasperations before trudging on, persisting through the materialising mud in the encroaching twilight.

The gods seemed to grant the red-haired girl some small mercy however, as Jern soon stumbled upon a dense grove she did not think twice about making her shelter for the approaching night, finding the verdant canopy to alleviate much of the torrent once she was amongst the tightly-packed tree trunks searching for and soon discovering a relatively level gap mostly unreached by the rain that was also wide enough for her to reasonably rest in. The unpretentious princess set her bag and her blade down before wasting no time gathering a bundle of fallen branches to stoke a fire with just in time for darkness to finally descend over the hills, doubling to keep her warm in the chilled air and to stave off any curious wolves or bears that might otherwise stray too close while she slept.

Jern then proceeded to laboriously unfasten and doff every article of armour on her person, setting each piece aside till she was left standing in her skivvies - consisting of a snug vest and a plain pair of briefs both an unappealing shade of beige - before practising a series of stretches in both her sturdy arms and robust legs to untense her aching muscles. Afterwards, she plummeted into a sit between two gnarling roots with her back resting against a nearby bole, closing her eyes as made another sigh, this one of relief now that she had a chance to relax for the first time since waking up that morning before tugging her wet woollen socks off her feet to let her sore, damp soles breathe a little while drying them against the fire.

Jern certainly did not find camping out in the open as she was to be a tiresome experience, though she surmised she would have perhaps enjoyed it a lot more had she actually planned on doing so, and in more ideal weather, but as things stood how they were, there was little she could do to improve her predicament for the time being and decided she might as well make the most of things, limited though they may be. As she lolled, the redhead listened to the soft crackling of kindling combined with the gentle pattering of rain against the leaves above, and after admiring the soothing ambience, she whittled a twig retrieved from the thicket floor with a spare dagger she carried until it ended in a sharpened point, then reaching into her luggage, she pulled out a hunk of raw venison wrapped in hide - both harvested from the same deer she had bagged earlier that day - cut it into finer strips before sticking several onto the stick and holding it over the fire to start cooking them...veeery slowly.

Patience was not a virtue Snjórland's crown-princess had been blessed with in abundance, and it did not take long before the redhead grew restless waiting for her supper to ready, bouncing her knee as she took her last swig of clean water from a skin wishing it was ale when she suddenly remembered something she had picked up just before departing the last hamlet she had stayed in using extra funds earned from wagering on herself in an arm wrestling competition held at its pub the previous evening. A lecherous smirk besmirched her bonny face as she dug her makeshift skewer into the ground at a slant to let her meat hover over the rising heat before rummaging around in her pack once more until she found what she sought: the most recent issue of 'Studs Triweekly' (the kingdom's number one magazine amongst women in terms of pure sales). Jern licked her smiling lips just from looking at the sultry cover depicting a duo of scantily-clad male hoplites, having been looking forward to flipping through it all day as she made herself as comfortable as she could before beginning her perusal.

Within the matter of just a few pages, Jern had already started indulging in the pastime that was enjoyed by near-all whether they were princess or peasant: her right hand was firmly lodged within her underwear with legs apart as her fingers fiddled around her vulva whilst the other held the periodical open to admire the lifelike illustrations of beautiful men the publication was best known for, each one spicier than the last. However, while she was fixating on a full-body portrait of a handsome bald-headed, dark-skinned pugilist from the southern continent with abdominals that rivalled her own, Jern heard a sharp snapping of a branch from somewhere nearby...a little too nearby for her liking. The suddenness of the sound in the otherwise silent copse brought the young woman out of her fancy and into full alertness in an instant, taking her eyes off the magazine as she scanned the immediate vicinity as far as the radiance of her campfire reached.

She saw nothing out of the ordinary, but Jern did not wish to risk being caught unawares by what could have very well been a robber or a rapist drawn in by the flame's illumination, She tossed the magazine aside and withdrew her slightly sticky digits from out of her briefs before nabbing her sword lying nearby with the same hand, unsheathing it as she stood up and readied herself into a defensive stance for anything that may spring at her from the shadows.

"Who goes there?" She called out after a few seconds of inactivity but was met with no answer, making the warrior all the more wary. Uncertain from which direction the crack had come from, she strained her sight and scrutinised her surroundings - behind herself included - but was unable to spot even the faintest indication of movement anywhere amongst the gloom. "Show your face, you coward!" She hollered again out of agitation, but still no response, but just as the she lowered her sword and her guard believing the noise might have merely been caused by a passing badger or the like, Jern was descended upon from above by an assailant hiding in the foliage of the very tree she was just masturbating beneath without a second sound of warning, and was dragged to the dirt beneath their weight!

Jern only had time to react with a gasp when she hit the ground with a hefty thud, her sword dropping from her slackened grip upon impact, though this discouraged the princess little as she hardly hesitated in pulling the unknown aggressor into a tussle, unwilling to let herself be bested without putting up any resistance. In the chaos of this upclose struggle, Jern was unable to clearly identify her attacker, but whoever they may have been, they fought in a manner akin to a wild animal: scratching the princess's skin in several spots with keen claws at the end their fingers, and even biting into her shoulder - dangerously close to her neck - more than once with pointed fangs. Jern winced from the pain, clenching her teeth and snorting from her nose, but refusing to give her foe the satisfaction of hearing her scream as they grappled.

The princess' lack of feral features put her at a serious disadvantage compared to her adversary while they vied, though she was nevertheless successful in delivering some solid punches to their face and knees to their stomach while they tumbled across the grass, enough for her opponent to eventually slacken their grapple for Jern to break herself free from, rolling away from her enemy before hopping back onto her feet - her vest now torn through in various places - and finally getting a clear view at who had dared assault her: humanoid though he was in overall shape, human he definitely was not, as Jern had presumed from the terrible talons she had just been on the receiving end of.

The first unusual aspect of the assaulter to catch Jern's notice was his skin: grey and rugged not unlike granite, with the second - and most prominent - being a pair of leathery, semi-translucent membranes extending from either of his shoulders; burning orange in contrast to the rest of his muted pigmentation with veins visibly criss-crossing through the film of flesh and each fold segmented by long tubes of bone - overall resembling the wings of a bat. Thirdly, the symmetrical set of four enamel horns curving upwards in crescent-moon shapes from his prominent brow and glinting faintly in the firelight - the two inner prongs being about half the size of the outer pair - led Jern to deduce that standing before her was a member of the nocturnal non-human race known as gargoyles, although this was the first time she had ever directly confronted such a creature.

Until now, Jern had only ever read descriptions of gargoyles detailed in the journals of adventurers past, though such accounts hardly did justice the sense of intimidation the typically intrepid swordswoman felt facing one down, especially when she was unarmed and outfitted in naught but her underwear! His amber eyes glowed with a predatory glare in contrast to the strong shadows cast across his grinning countenance, flashing a full set of pearly, carnivorous cuspids marred with smears of the princess' own freshly drawn blood as an eerily extensive, similarly scarlet tongue dangled mockingly all the way to his chin while a lengthy, tapering tail swished slowly in smooth figure eight motions behind. In terms of pure outward characteristics, gargoyles were regarded by many to be the closest thing to daemons residing on this mortal plane.

His menacing air was only enhanced by a stature matching Jern's own impressive height at six-and-a-half feet - not counting his ivory antlers - and a brawn that inferred brute might with but a glance as it was freely flaunted from wearing naught save for a ragged loincloth wrapped around his waist that concealed the bare minimum of modesty. The Gargoyle's body resembled a marble statue perfectly sculpted by a master carver in the likeness of a hero of antiquity, with solid stomach muscles, defined pectorals, and biceps and thighs bulging with tempered sinew complete with the chiselled jawline to match. As one who took great pride in her own trained physique, Jern may have even commended his figure if it were not for their current mutual antagonism towards one another.

However, the redhead had but a couple of seconds to take all of the Gargoyle's devilish appearance before he lunged headlong straight at her like a shot, both arms outstretched forwards with claws primed and wings fully unfurled to slightly improve the distance of his dive. Jern just barely managed to dodge out of his trajectory in time to avoid being pounced on, although was still nicked in the side by two of the non-human's razor-like nails. With her sword out of reach, the warrior instead quickly snatched up a fallen, mossy bough from the floor close at hand while the Gargoyle briefly had his back to her upon alighting into a vacant space after missing his intended target before she swung her improvised weapon swiftly at his hairless occiput with such force, the bludgeon splintered clean in twain upon collision. The Gargoyle squawked as he was left stunned by the mighty blow, falling prostrate on the ground, with Jern jumping onto his back immediately afterwards to pin him down beneath her weight quicker than his mind could unmuddle before grabbing his ankles to start bending his legs backwards.

"Damned beast!" She grunted, her hands moving up to his calves while she trapped his feet underneath her unshaved armpits as she leaned back precipitously with them in tow like she was intending to tear the tendons in his thighs. "Maybe a little bit of disciplining will tame ya!"

"Ow! Ooow!" The Gargoyle cried as he fruitlessly tried shaking the human off his body, rapidly tapping his open palms against the ground while his wings flapped frantically and his tail whipped erratically in response to the agony he felt. "Stop! Mercy! I submit! I beg yo-" He resorted to pleading in his resonant voice, though the princess interjected partway through.

"You can talk?!" Jern exclaimed with genuine incredulity upon hearing him speak for the first time since revealing himself, though not laxing her grapple in the slightest. "In that case, you'd better start explaining yourself. Now." She tightened her fingers on the underside of his knees to emphasise her warning.

"P-Please understand! I haven't had anything to eat for days now!" The Gargoyle was prompt to give his justification, pausing in his struggles for the time being. "Hunger had driven me half-mad and the tantalising waft of your roasting meat lured the scavenger instinct within me out front and centre! I was not myself, you know? I can't say sorry enough!"

"Did the idea to ask never cross your mind first?!" Jern rejoined, giving the Gargoyle's legs a purposeful pull as this rationale only further vexed her, making the winged man yowl as he drummed the ground with his fists.

"I-I-I thought I would be turned away if I tried that! Your kind are hardly ever welcoming to gargoyles in this country...or any country for that matter." The non-human stammered out.

"Is that seriously the best you can come up with?!" Jern was not convinced of the grey-skinned male's excuse for even a single second. "Starving or not, that gives you zero right to maul me like you were out for murder! Sure you weren't mugging me for my money as well? Gods, you're certainly not doing your people's notoriety any favours behaving like that. Oh, and I'll bet my last two coppers you took your time watching me play with myself before you made your move too, you pervert! Maybe you were planning on doing other things to me with all the effort you took to set up your little sneak attack..." The Gargoyle neither refuted or confirmed these accusations, not knowing whether there was anything he could say at this point which would assuage the princess' ire, truth or otherwise.

"Somebody seriously ought to put you in your place..." Jern continued in a low grumble, her frustration coming to a head that not only was she gods knew how many miles astray from civilisation and smarting from scores on her skin, but she had been intruded upon mid-onanism without being allowed to finish on top of all that! However, an idea quickly sprung to the redhead's mind on how to handle her undealt itch and dole out a suitable punishment for the culprit responsible. "In fact, that somebody is going to be me, right here, right now!"

"What are you doi- ah!" The Gargoyle's question was cut short by a pained cry brought about when Jern released his legs at last only for her dominant hand to squeeze tight around his tail close to its tip instead before giving it a harsh upwards yank to hoist his waist off the ground like she was presenting a freshly caught fish, putting him onto his knees with his backside raised while keeping his torso constrained to the ground beneath her bodyweight. Then, without fanfare, Jern's free hand grabbed a fistful of the winged male's flimsy loincloth and tore it clean off his person, and without him wearing anything underneath, a pair of ashen-coloured, smooth and unexpectedly plump bum cheeks were subsequently unveiled to the princess, who raised a ginger eyebrow in surprise.

"For somebody as fit as you are, you've sure got one fat arse!" She bluntly remarked, unable to see the Gargoyle blushing from the angle she was sat at. "Makes me just want to..." She started to say, but let her actions finish her thought with the delivery of a swift swat with the flat of her left palm to the horned man's right buttock, causing him to yelp and flinch in reaction, in turn only making the princess smirk as she further slapped each of the buns in rapid succession several more times with similar sharpness like she was playing a pair of bongo drums one-handed, amused both by the non-human's reactions and by the way his backside jiggled upon being struck.

"Ow, ow! Stop that!" The Gargoyle growled as he kicked his legs in futile defiance, although would quickly come to regret making that demand.

"Oh? Fine then, since you're oh-so polite about it." The redhead sarcastically stated, though indeed stopped her spankings upon being told, hovering her hand away from the Gargoyle's derrière to just below, specifically between his fibrous thighs where a pair of substantial testicles dangled defencelessly from his perineum that did not escaped her notice. "I'll play around with these instead then!" She jovially stated, straining her index finger against her thumb before flicking it against one of the winged man's bollocks, just barely skimming its surface, but leaving a lasting sting several times sorer than had it been a more direct impact. Jern cackled like a cruel witch hearing the Gargoyle's shriller whining as it seemed his entire frame was trying to shrink away to no avail while he remained trapped beneath the human.

"Leave them alone!" The grey-skinned male snapped after suffering a few more trying finger taps on his testes.

"Then how about I just gnash 'em off and be done with 'em altogether!" Jern retorted, and to illustrate her threat, she bowed her lofty upper body over and put her open, upside-down maw directly up against one of the balls, fitting the soft sphere snugly between her two rows of teeth before pressing down with just enough pressure for its owner to feel her incisors threaten to puncture their exterior if she bit down even just a few newtons harder.

"A-anything but that!" The Gargoyle was prompt to change his tune, though Jern did take her mouth away from his scrotum after hearing his desperate plea, raising herself upright once more.

"Oh, lay off it. I wasn't really gonna chomp 'em." She said, letting out a sigh and wondering if she had took her bullying a tad too far. "As scary as you look, you're pretty pathetic, y'know that?"

"Y-yes, exactly! I am pathetic! Not even worth the trouble to torment!" At this point, the Gargoyle would have agreed on anything that might result in his release. "S-so, just let me be on my way and you'll never see me again for the rest of your life, honest!"

"Oooh, no! I'm not letting you off that easily. I'm annoyed, I'm hungry, and I'm absolutely randy! An infuriating combo if there ever was one, and seeing as the first part of that is partly your fault and the second is being dragged out having to sort you out, I'm going to use you as I see fit until you've taken care of the last! Do a good enough job, and I might just consider letting you fly free." Jern delineated, her stark sternness shocking the Gargoyle into silence as she at last loosened the grasp on his tail and stood up from his back, albeit only slightly, not giving him an inch to scarper as her strong hands were quick to reach down and flip him prone onto his back, keeping him in place by dropping her seat onto his solid stomach, knocking out some of his wind. "As scary as you look and as pathetic you might be, gotta admit, as far as frightening bat-creatures of the night go, you're a bit of a hunk~ Now, let's check what you're packing here..." She addressed him over her shoulder before looking down to his pubis, bursting into a peal of laughter when she laid eyes upon his penis, for in spite of his harrowing situation and the abuse inflicted upon him, it appeared his member was already at a half-erection.