Sapphic Fairy Tales 02: Briar Rose 01

All characters engaged in sexual activities in this story are over the age of 18.

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Briar Rose: Part 1

Fairy Stories, by their very nature, often contain some kind of fairy. Usually they are colourful, kind little creatures, flitting on wings of crystal like insects, and go about blessing good people with wishes and magical gifts. But true Fairies- the Fey, Faeries, Elves, whatever people choose to call them- are nothing like the benevolent magical creatures of our fairy stories.

True, they are magical. And their magic is powerful and beguiling, but it often yields a twist. A man blessed with pots of gold wakes the next day to find the gold has turned to coal and all his boastful investments have fallen through. A child who chases fairies through a meadow may be lured beyond the bounds of safety, never to be seen again. And a young woman may, by intent or not, make a deal with a Fey-being for a sought-after child. But the cost of such deals are always, always more dear than they may appear.

All of this is to say that the Fey, though beautiful and powerful, are also vain, capricious, narcissistic and cruel. They are not to be trusted.

- - -

In the low sloping foothills of the mountains where the river ran swift and clear through the valleys and gorges, and where the forests grew deep and dark, and the meadows were filled with flowers in the spring, there lay a Kingdom. It was by no means a large, or rich or powerful kingdom, but it was safe from those beyond its borders. Protected by the mountains to the south and the rivers and forests to the north, it prospered.

The Queen of this land, Queen Leah, ruled the land alone. She was a young queen, her father having passed away when she was only eighteen years old and since then she had ruled the kingdom with grace and fairness. She allowed the populace their customs and practices and maintained the moderate tax that her father has employed before her. And so the little kingdom between the mountains and the forest prospered.

Only in one way was the kingdom in any way lacking. Although Leah herself was now twenty-three years of age the kingdom was as yet without a king, and therefore, by necessity, without an heir to the throne. The beautiful and powerful Queen Leah, who had ruled the land fairly and justly for five long years since her father's passing had long since toyed with the idea of bringing a child into the world. But as she also shared this desire with absolutely no desire to take a husband, her desires had cancelled each other out.

Fortunately- or unfortunately- events in her kingdom would soon overtake her when on the anniversary of her fifth year of her rule, Queen Leah's various advisors came to her to discuss the succession. As they approached the throne, they beheld Leah dressed in her full regal garb standing before the throne. She had known that this day was coming and wanted to show her best and most queenly guise to her supplicants.

Although young, Leah held herself with great poise and purpose. She may have been only five feet or so in actual height but the platform shoes hidden beneath her long shimmering green dress combined with the six or seven steps up to the throne, gave her a look of majestic superiority. She did her best to look at the men assembled before her down the length of her sharp but pretty nose and pursed her light pink lips in a look of sincere attention. Her simple silver crown sat atop her long blonde hair and her bright blue eyes, surrounded by their long dark lashes, passed over each man before her in turn as they all bowed.

These men all insisted that she should soon find a husband of good station willing to wed her, or she would one day be faced by a crisis which would surely see her kingdom subsumed by her neighbours, or perhaps fall into anarchy. They asked, in the strongest terms possible, that messengers be sent out across the land to summon princes, dukes, and other nobles suitable to marry a queen.

The queen was extremely vexed by these demands. Up until now these lords had treated her with the respect and obedience that had been due to her late father. They had advised gently when asked, and occasionally made requests that were due to them. But never before had they so strongly all advocated in one voice that she do anything that was not in her will to grant.

Had she not ruled them fairly and justly for the past five years? Why now did her own counsellors turn against her and demand that she be replaced by a man of lesser station? She agreed with them that an heir was vital to secure the succession of her kingdom, and she too shared their desire to see a little prince or princess join her at court. But she would not submit herself to any man, noble or not, to achieve this end. Leah dismissed her councillors, claiming that she must think on their proposal and then retired to her own chambers for the evening.

Behind closed doors, she fumed at the demands. She quietly cursed the name of every man who had stood before her that day and demanded that she subjugate herself to a foreign man, simply for the purpose of bearing him an heir to take her place. If she were to bear a child, it would be hers to raise herself. She would not merely be the vessel by which a new child was born into the world to be raised by anyone but herself. But how to bear a child to be her heir without a father?

An idea came to her. In her five years of rulership she had sometimes visited the peasant folk who lived in the town in and around her caste. She went in disguise, in order to avoid her own guard, and these visits had not been infrequent. She liked to walk amongst her people, to hear their complaints and their accolades, partake of their simple pleasures and share in their joys and their woes. It was by these means that she had managed to keep a steady hand on how her kingdom was managed. If the people were happy and heard then she had little reason to fear their replacing her.

It was also by these sojourns that she had become aware of a pair of nearby women who claimed to have knowledge of the magical arts. Some said that the two were sisters who spoke with devils and made foul pacts with them for their power. Others said that they were actually one saintly being in two bodies and had been sent by the gods for the people's protection and enlightenment. Whatever the truth of it, perhaps this pair of wise women would be able to provide her with the answer she needed.

And so Leah shed her queenly robes, swapping them instead for plain peasant garb. She wore a long dark maroon dress which she cinched around her narrow waist with a simple leather belt. And she swapped her crown and earrings for a modest pale apron and wimple. Without her fine clothes and make-up she looked to be a still beautiful but simple woman of the kingdom.

She used the secret stairs which led down into the town and emerged through a hidden vault in a cellar and from there made her way through the town. Leah had never met the two magical women of which she had heard others speak but she knew that the two of them lived beyond the town walls, in a hut near to the forest. It took a little less than an hour to reach the glade in which the women's little yellow-painted hut stood and Leah approached slowly and carefully, eager not to disturb either woman lest she be turned into a toad or something.

As she approached, curiosity got the better of Leah, and rather than just knocking on the door as she normally would have, she headed instead for the partially open window beside it, with the shutters gently swaying in the light breeze. Although she knew that it was wrong to spy, especially for a queen, Leah couldn't help but wonder what these two magical women got up to when they thought that nobody was watching. Perhaps they were brewing some heathen potion in a vast cauldron of bubbling liquid? Or perhaps they were sacrificing cats to their dark masters in exchange for demonic powers. If either of those were true then she would know to look elsewhere for answers. Nothing good could possibly come in dealing with that kind of magic.

But as she poked her head up over the windowsill to peek inside the small yellow-painted hut she beheld something that she never would have predicted in a thousand years of guessing. The two women lay together on a small couch which was covered in brightly coloured fabrics. Both of them were in a state of partial undress and their mouths were pressed together in a passionate full-mouthed kiss, their eyes closed and fully lost in the moment.

A tiny gasp of surprise escaped Leah's lips as she ducked back down below the window sill. Her heart jumped in her chest and she blushed red, hardly believing what her eyes had just seen. Whatever else these two women might be, they almost certainly were not sisters. Needing to confirm what her eyes had just told her, Leah peeked her head back up above the window and once again took in the sight before her.

One woman, who was tall and darker skinned with long lustrous black hair and dark fluttering eyelids was laid back on the soft piece of furniture. She was dressed in a long dark green dress with slits down the legs so that her long silky smooth legs could be seen with her toes and feet pointing like a compass needle away from her body. One hand gripped the fabric beneath her tightly while the other appeared to have reached up between the legs of the woman straddling her.

The straddling woman was shorter in stature with wider hips and a fuller bosom. She wore a light pink linen top and red skirt which was currently hiked up around her waist so that her large and perfectly formed behind was fully visible to Leah peeking from the corner. While the two women were currently locked in their full-mouthed kiss, one of the top woman's hands was clearly burrowed under the lounging woman's skirts and appeared to be vibrating back and forth across her concealed nethers with some speed.

As well as the sights she beheld, Leah could also hear the rhythmic moaning and mewling of the two women as they frigged each other with their fingers, their cries muffled by each other's mouths as their tongue entwined. Each of them was flushed and breathing hard with the force of the pleasure that they were both clearly experiencing.

From her position below the window, Leah too felt herself becoming flushed with excitement at what she was witnessing. She had heard of women who took other women as lovers of course but she had never considered such a pairing herself before. Now that she saw it before her in the flesh she found she was unable to tear her eyes away, so beautiful and hypnotising was the display.

As she watched, Leah saw that the two women were clearly reaching the climax of their lovemaking, both writhed and bucked their hips into the other's hands and they momentarily broke their kiss to let out equal gasping cries of pleasure in the confines of their small hut. Just as she climaxed, the woman lying back on the couch opened her eyes wide and gasped on a long drawn out breath as her orgasm broke through her. And in the moment, Leah was almost sure that her eyes flicked sideways to meet hers spying from the window, a small smile flashing across her face as she did.

Leah ducked back down like a cat and bit her lip in fear and embarrassment, hoping that she had imagined the eye contact. Her heart was racing, and her skin was flushed, and not just from the fear of being discovered. She found that her insides were swirling like a flock of birds and that she found herself picturing the lust-filled scene that she had just witnessed whenever she closed her eyes. She wondered what it would be like to share such a moment with another woman, to feel their skin against hers, feel their lips on hers, feel their hand reach down to where...

She banished the thought as quickly as she could. She had come here for a reason and she wasn't going to leave until she got the answers she sought.

She stood up from where she had been kneeling and brushed herself down slightly then waited a few moments to allow the two women inside to at least come down from the high that they had both clearly just experienced. Then she rapped firmly in the door. From the other side there was a gasp and a few minor giggles and muffled whispers and Leah could imagine the two of them theatrically de-tangling from each other and attempting to appear presentable for a guest.

After a moment or two the door opened and the shorter, pink clad woman with long brown-blonde hair opened up the door. She had a welcoming smile on her face and was clearly still a little flushed in the cheeks. Behind her Leah could make out her partner, the green-clad woman with the long dark hair still reclining on the sofa but her eyes were directed downwards at a book and she appeared quite relaxed.

'Yes hello dear, how can I help you?' Said pink-lady.

'Good afternoon goodwomen', Leah replied, 'I'm told that you may be able to provide me with help with a... problem I have.'

She waggled her eyebrows a bit, which she thought might have been a bit too much, but pink-dress looked back at green-dress and the two of them shared a knowing look.

'Of course dear, come on in, I'm sure we've got just the thing for you.'

The inside of the small cottage was clean and well kept if a little cluttered with strange odds and ends like half finished knitting projects, hanging herbs and a few too many cushions. The air smelled sweet like some kind of mint tea, with (Leah thought) just a slight hint in the air of female sex still clinging to the edges of her senses. The scene that she had witnessed mere moments ago flashed once more across Leah's memory and she blushed once more, finding it difficult to meet either woman in the eye. With luck they would put her nervousness down to her 'problem'.

The three women chatted for a bit, exchanging pleasantries and dancing around the subject of why Leah was really there to visit. Pink dress introduced herself as Flora and Green dress as Fauna, which was good and Leah could stop referring to them in her head as 'Pink-dress' and 'Green-dress'. Flora was very chatty and cheerful and easy to talk to while Fauna was quieter with more of a biting wit and every now and then Leah caught her eye and was sure once again that she had seen her spying from the window. The coy smile which played across her lips never left them and very much gave Leah the impression that Fauna knew more than she was letting on.

Finally Leah got down to the subject at hand.

'My problem is this ladies; I need a child, but I have no husband or lover or any man which I would care to bear the fruit of in my life. I have been told that you possess some powers which are beyond the ken of most and so I am here to seek your remedies and advice on how to become a mother. Crucially, without the help of any man.'

After this little speech a soft silence fell inside the hut which happened to coincide perfectly with the setting of the last few rays of sunlight out in the garden. A purple darkness fell outside the warm candlelight of that yellow-painted cottage and the two wise women shared a secret furtive look, almost excited and afraid of what Leah had asked them.

'There is a way Leah dear', Flora whispered as she leaned in slightly. 'A way to seek the powers of those who walk beyond this mortal world. It is from such a place that we two also gain our minor powers.'

'It is not for the faint hearted', Fauna spoke up, her eyes dark and suddenly serious, her voice low.

'To step into the world beyond our own into the Other Place is a dangerous path to tread but in such a place, there are many things that can be sought and gifted in return from... Them.'

'Them?' Leah asked, leaning in towards the other two, her curiosity piqued.

'Them. The Fair Folk. We have walked that path many times Flora and I, stepped through the door and... taken parlay with Queen Merryweather, Lady of the land of rainbows and dewdrops. She is a generous donor of power, The Queen, but like with all things, there is always a price.'

'Gold is no object.' Leah interjected. But Fauna reached out her hand and took her palm in her own fingers.

'I am not talking about gold girl, I am talking about a price.' Fauna's voice dropped another octave and her hand gripped Leah's firmly, willing her to understand.

'There is a reason the two of us live out here on the edge of the woods.' Flora piped up 'No children to call our own, no little ones to raise and fill our lives with joy.'

And then Leah understood what these two women had given up for their powers. They had given up their children, or at least the idea of their children, their capacity to create life had been taken from them. What would she herself be willing to give up for the chance to gain a child of her own? Whatever it was, she would pay it, she resolved.

'Please, show me the way to The Queen's Court.'

She asked, standing up before the two women. Flora and Fauna exchanged a glance and apparently some unspoken words between the two of them before they both stood as well. They took her by the hand to lead her out of the house.

Leah followed the two women down a small path lit on either side by small fireflies which chirped and fluttered in the grass. She wondered where the two of them were taking her. Were they about to include her in one of their shared rituals with The Queen? Is that what she had witnessed when she had first spied on them? The idea of joining in on such a lustful and salacious activity set her heart racing slightly and once again she blushed to imagine herself sandwiched between the bodies of these two women as they writhed naked in pleasure.

But if this was truly what her heart desired then these dreams were quickly dashed as they rounded a corner in the forest and stood at last before the doorway to the Land of the Faeries. To the casual observer it looked to be little more than two trees which had fallen into one-another in years long past and had combined their trunks into one massive up-side-down V-shaped arch. The various branches which sprung up from the distorted trunks were short and wiry, but their foliage was green and lush with a hint of silver on the underside. The space between the two trunks was utterly dark as the pale light of the crescent moon was currently hidden by the clouds.

'This is the passage Leah dear.' Flora said, gesturing to the space between the two trunks. 'When the moonlight shines onto the doorway, the way will stand open to you, once you know that it is there. And you can pass through to parley with Them on the other side.'

'Then I can go through as soon as the moon comes out?' Leah asked as she took several steps towards the archway.

'No your majesty!' Fauna called out to her, revealing that she had known who Leah was all along. 'It is dangerous, more dangerous still to step between the trunks when the moon is waxing!'

But at that moment the waxing crescent moon came out from behind the clouds and it's pale white light fell onto the twinned trees so that the underside of its leaves reflected silver in the celestial light.

Leah looked back at the two women standing on the edge of the glade holding out their hands towards her and warning her to go no further, then back at the trees, where it almost looked as if a deeper darkness had swirled like the bottom of a well between their trunks. In that moment Queen Leah made a snap decision for herself, her kingdom and the future of both and took the last few steps forwards into the waiting darkness.

- - -

Darkness enveloped Queen Leah for a moment before she stepped through the strange doorway and into a world beyond her own. And it was not quite what she had expected. For a land that was supposedly called the Land of Rainbows and Dewdrops, it was much darker and more sombre than she had expected. Enormous tree-sized creepers of brambles sprouted from the leaf covered ground all around her. These thorn clad growths reached up towards the pale purple sky with long tentacle-like appendages and everywhere along their branches bloomed deep dark red roses the size of Leah's palms.