The Bramble and the Eel

"John, this is Dolo. She takes care of the house and watched after me when I was little."

"Hello, madam. I'm John."

"Of the Dark Bay."

Dolo's eyes stared through mine, I was sure she plucked that information straight from my soul. Mosha saw the confusion and held my hand.

"How do you know that about me, Dolo?"

"Dolo is a seer. She's always been able to see into a person's mind. She's harmless. Let's go upstairs."

Dolo stared after us until the hallway blocked her gaze. I'd never encountered anything magical or supernatural before, only heard the typical superstition of the commoners. The woman was old but definitely not old enough to have been to Darkbay before the kingdom shut out the Glade and peoples of the forest.

Those eyes, so bright and wide, would never leave me for as long as I'd live.

We climbed the narrow stairs to Mosha's room. Her room was small, for a princess, but it had quite the view. I was drawn to the light shining through her window, finding the view more than fitting for the Chieftain's daughter. The abstract village of the Glade and its waters were all within view from her headboard. Mosha joined me and gazed down below like she must've her whole life.

"Look, down there, across the bridge."

Leaning against the building across from us were two guards leaning against the wall and lazily scanning the area. One of them glanced up at the window and waved, grinning toothily up at us.

Mosha chuckled and returned the gesture before pulling me away from the window.

"My father's 'guard' on you."

"Hmmm. I didn't expect everyone to be so mild about their people's enemy arriving at their doorstep."

"You're not the enemy anymore! And telling them about our lovemaking will keep them amused until tonight at least. Besides, you don't even have your sword. They know how serious the bond between a knight and his sword is. It's even funnier to them than our fucking."

"Why do they think it's funny? Is it me?"

"Probably, at least a little. But they're simple men. The common people where you're from are likely much the same."

"Now that you mention it, you're right, I do recall some humor of the men in the trenches."

Mosha gave me a kiss on the cheek and sat me down on the bed. The look in her eyes was one I hadn't seen before, one of gentleness.

"My father told me about the war. Tell me more about it, after we're married."

"Oh, of course. It was my first bit of fighting after becoming a knight, very brutal for a young man. When are we getting married, do you think?"

Mosha grinned and lay back on her bed, patting the spot next to her for me to join her. I glanced at the door like any experienced lad and lay my head next to hers. Forest living had made me unaccustomed to feather beds and their comfort.

"If you survive the Moot, then it should follow shortly after."

"I either die tonight, or live happily forever after."

She laughed and kissed me again. Perhaps being home made her feel safe enough to show her sweetness. Strange that we had met on such hostile terms to be betrothed lying in a bed together.

"We're a simple people, as I said. Besides, there'll be no need to fret about the details going from one to the other."

Mosha kissed me again and climbed onto my waist, pressing her forehead against mine.

"Let me show you how simple folk pass the time until then."

Her lips pressed against my forehead and her hands got to work on my trousers. Her fingers unwound the knot and slipped inside. I gasped as her hand wrapped around my sword, sliding up the hilt to grasp the quickly hardening length. Her lips silenced me with a kiss that belied no tenderness.

She attacked my mouth with zeal, sending her tongue out to hunt for mine. After it was seized, I was happy to join in on the game. I shimmied out of my pants with her help and released my stiff cock to her eager hand. She kissed me hard one last time and broke away to kiss down my bared stomach to my pubic hair.

The trail of kisses extended up the base of my penis all the way to the tip, there the trail ended and her lips plunged down my length. Her tongue laved the way to the root of me, the sensation sending my head back in ecstasy. She maintained the depth for a moment and then came up for air, gasping and pumping me up and down, slicking my rod with her saliva.

She eyed me like a sadistic predator and returned to her work below. Her teeth lightly scoring the front and back of me as she bobbed up and down creating a delightful mix of pain and pleasure I soon grew accustomed to. I watched in awe as she made the entirety of my cock disappear and reappear from her jaws.

Mosha's lips slipped up my length to the head and sucked intensely. Her tongue swirled wildly along the underside of the head, making me moan and curse to the ceiling. Mosha giggled around my cock and hummed as she sucked on the head, sending vibrations through my rod that pushed me over the edge.

My mind lightened, the feeling in my extremities faded as the orgasm built in my loins. She splayed her tongue all over the head one last time before sucking down to the base of my cock. She came up just as quickly as she enveloped it, creating a trail of spit connecting her lips to the tip of my member as she caught her breath.

She beamed at me adorably, despite the spittle and drool running down her chin. Her hands replaced her mouth, pumping me rapidly, driving me deep into climax. I could feel my seed rush from my loins through my staff. Mosha could feel it start to throb and planted her lips around the tip once again.

Blast after blast of my seed shot into her mouth, not a drop escaping her lips' right seal around me. She drank it down greedily, swallowing mouthfuls of cum straight from my spasming cock. I saw the sky turn into a field of stars out that window above her bed as she sucked my throbbing member till there was nothing left to empty into her.

I hadn't felt that relaxed in so long, I almost fell asleep. Mosha got up and left the room for a moment, to wash up I hoped in my semi conscious state. I laid on the bed, willing my eyes to stay open, fighting against my own tiring eyelids.

Mosha returned and hopped onto the bed, rousing me momentarily.

"My lady, what about yourself? Let me return the favor."

"My lord, listen to you yawn. Besides, if this is your last evening in the world of the living, I would you like you to remember me serving you. Like your original intention when we first met."

"I would only bind you in a marriage, now, Mosha."

"I know, handsome. Get some rest. You have a couple hours."

++++++++++++++

I'm thankful Mosha had the forethought to conceal the mess that was my lower half before her father and his guards came to escort me to the Moot. They eyed me suspiciously but said nothing about finding me in his daughter's bed. I fixed my clothing and held Mosha's hand for a moment before following them out the door.

The men led us over bridges that widened more the farther we traveled. The burly men could stand abreast behind the Chieftain as we reached the furthest edge of the village. There, where all the bridges terminated, was a ramshackle dome of ancient, petrified wood that housed the Moot since the Glade encountered other peoples. Armed men were already gathering outside the building in anticipation for the meeting.

The guards let us inside upon seeing the Chieftain and I was led away from those I knew to sit in a chair mounted against the central support brace of the back wall. Bearded men stood with their arms crossed on every side of the room in different groups: the clans sworn to Mosha's father.

"Chieftain. We await you. And the captive."

The meeting chamber greeted him as one. They were proud but they respected the man as their leader. He nodded to each or the clan leaders and took his place in front of his bannermen. Mosha stood beside him and looked as cheerful as could be, waving to me like I was going to receive a reward rather than a sentence of life or death.

"Clan leaders. Let us begin the Moot."

The Gladers appreciated the drama in saving the best for last, it seemed. The monthly accounts and tallies were read aloud to everyone. Small issues brought before the leaders were settled. The sighting of a man fleeing hounds through a swamp inhabited by a notorious witch. Only after these matters were addressed did they acknowledge the knight in the room. Disgraced knight, but more knightly than any of them.

"The final business of the Moot. The knight my daughter wishes to marry. Stand, John Eel."

"My lord Chieftain. I stand before you no longer a knight, but a potential bannerman, if you would have me."

The clan leaders looked at each other and the Chieftain to gauge the others' reactions. The Chieftain smiled slightly but made it clear his opinion was far from set.

"I would appreciate a man of your skill in my clan. Mosha told me about your fight with the forest sneaks. However, I am concerned by what could happen if I were to send you out against an enemy village. Would you fall to the dirt with the first peasant girl you find? Mosha was your prisoner before you were partners out there in the wood. You were betrothed to a princess and still your desire drew you to my daughter."

Mosha shrugged and appeared unbothered by the statement. I was worried because he had a point. I was to wed the daughter of the King, and I threw it away to lie with a rough looking woman of the Glade.

"Chieftain, it is true I was to marry the Princess. Honorable pacts aside, I had no association with the woman. I knew her brother and her father, but I had only seen the lady. But I saw Mosha too, and knew if I didn't haul her to the dungeons, I would have to haul her back to my home instead."

Men chuckled but the Chieftain waited for me to finish.

"I spoke with her, and learned about who I thought was my enemy. Although it took a scrap and hiding behind a tree from a furious archer, I realized the love for her that was beginning to grow inside me. I have never met anyone like Mosha. She is fierce and unafraid. She tells me what she believes. I believe we should be together, And if that means slaying that peasant girl to earn my keep, so be it."

"I've been trying to marry Mosha off for years, and she always gets out of it. To have her come back here and present you to me as her chosen husband, I believe she really wants this. But as all know, it is not the daughter's choice whom she marries."

The clan leaders nodded in agreement. I noticed Mosha finally looked somewhat concerned.

"I am familiar with the father's right as matchmaker and respect your decision."

The Chieftain signaled toward the doorway, and a couple of his men left the building.

They returned moments later with Dolo, the seer. She took her place beside the Chieftain who held her hand up gingerly before presenting her to the assembled. She scanned the room with her all-seeing eyes until she found me. Her gaze intensified into a stare, and I knew she was looking into my soul.

"This is Dolores. Caretaker of my house, and seer of premonitions future and past. I trust in her judgement wholly, and I call upon her to judge this man fit, or unfit for my daughter's hand."

He nudged her forward and she shuffled over to me. Her hands shook until they found my face, her fingers growing steady as they traced my features. She smiled and would be cooing if she made any sound while her fingers danced over my temples.

My mind felt lighter, unburdened, after she finished. I hoped she had not spirited away parts of me forever, that it was only an effect of whatever power she was using on me. I found myself lost in the black of her pupils. They took up most of her eye, so that only a thin ring of cold blue remained.

The clansmen watched silently. I couldn't tell if they had never witnessed this before or if it awed them every time they did.

The sound of breathing returned to the room and she was finished. Her hands slid off my face and the shaky, unsteady haze of the old woman returned. She waddled over to the Chieftain's waiting arm and the room waited for her verdict.

"This man captured Mosha, and then her heart. He shall wed her tonight. His destiny lies not with his kingdom nor with their princess, but ours."

All eyes shifted to the Chieftain. He threw his arms open and smiled wide.

"The seer has spoken. He lives to marry my daughter. We shall see if he lives to father any children! Embrace me, John Eel, and part John Bramble of the Glade!"

The clansmen stomped their feet and crowed loud as I was taken in the Chieftain's deceivingly strong grip. Mosha crowed with them and pulled me into her arms from her father.

"I knew it John! I knew you would live!"

"I live for you now, Mosha. Your father will make short work of me if I let you down. I owe you and Dolo my life."

The old woman said nothing but smiled her echo of a smile.

The Gladers kept their word and the wedding festivities were laid out. Kegs were rolled into the Moot Hall. Tables and stools were carried in and set on the meeting floor for the moderate feast carried in by the clans' wives. Mosha and I were sat down and passed a plate before the rest of the village crammed in and got a share and a seat.

"So was that the wedding? It was even more sequential than I thought."

Mosha nodded, her mouth filled with her last bite of the wing of whatever formerly feathered creature the Glades was home to.

A tune started, stringed instruments and a small pipe played from some corner of the room, their jaunty sound bouncing off the rounded ceiling.

"What happens after this? Do we get a home? Do we have to build one?"

"No, we don't have to build it! My father will find us a vacant one and you'll find a profession."

"Would I be able to continue to be a fighter?"

"Most likely. No one else here has a knight's training. That will be tomorrow, though. We still have the rest of the night to get through."

"Oh? What comes after the feast? I have to learn everything you already know about the Glade, like a child."

Mosha scooted closer to me and laid her foot over mine. Her eyes took on a sultry air and she bat her lashes at me, slowly, ever so suggestively.

"We have to consummate the marriage, John. So eat up!"

And with that she knocked her shoulder into me and dug back into her wing. I could only gulp and begin to anticipate what awaited me in our wedding bed. Nevertheless I did as she said and ate my fill, for my wife was a wise woman.

++++++++++++++

The party went on into the night, with many a slurred congratulations from a drunken warrior on his way out with his wife or a maiden he met or even both. We giggled after each one until Mosha decided we ought to follow their example. We thanked everyone still sober and her not so sober father and excused ourselves from the gathering.

Mosha and I walked the now narrowing bridges arm in arm under the peace of a new moon. The village was happy and relatively peaceful. Mosha told me about her views on marriage, how they changed as she grew older and found she enjoyed her freedom to explore so much more fulfilling.

When we met, Mosha found herself attracted to me, and it terrified her. So did being my prisoner but she enjoyed playing with me, and especially enjoyed fighting me on the riverbank. I proved a challenge and an obstacle, something she encountered rarely. The entire time she ran from me in the forest that night, she was hoping against reason that she'd see me again.

All the while, I was hoping against the trail going cold trying to find her, for reasons much less personal.

I felt foolish for having so much less to tell her. I hadn't given the presence she held in my mind during my hunt and my time with her as an adversary much thought. Mostly because I feared her beauty would cloud my duty as the warden of my forest. Now I knew it was because I felt the same. I enjoyed our conflict, I liked hunting her and having her on a lead was satisfying in a way I couldn't put my finger on at the time.

I couldn't put my finger on why this had all happened, either, so I stopped her before we got to her door.

"Mosha, I have to ask you, why... all this? Why marry me?"

She shrugged and turned to the moon.

"You fucked me pretty good."

I balked at her before laughing into her shoulder.

"You were even better. That's my point, actually. I had the opportunity to help you, to release you, and I didn't until you shared your body with me. You helped me escape Prince Paul and you saved my life let alone became my wife."

"It's true, and I forgive you. I just feel you're worth forgiving, even though I'm not entirely sure why. But you're mine now, I'm your princess, even though I won't act like one. Now come, show me some of that dedication you had for your knighthood in our wedding bed."

Mosha squeezed my hand and we hurried up the steps. Dolo let us in and I thanked her yet again for pronouncing me a suitable husband for Mosha.

"Mosha is a good girl. You are a good boy. You'll need each other if your future is to be bright."

"That's kind of you, Dolo. I'm going to take John upstairs, see you tomorrow."

Dolo nodded and returned to her chair by the fire. I lingered upon the stair and saw her lean toward it, staring into the embers without regard for the heat. Mosha came back down and tugged me along to her bedroom.

"Best to leave her alone, my love. Hey, that's funny..."

"It is."

"You know what I was going to say?"

"I love you, too."

"So forward, John! Prove it to me, John Bramble."

I pushed Mosha onto the bed and climbed on top of her once she was settled. I kissed her into the pillows, one lip at a time until hers parted and I went deeper. She sucked on my lip and tentatively poked her tongue into my mouth. I sent mine to meet it and she moaned. I brought my hand up to caress her face as I kissed her. Her skin was so smooth and soft, no maiden I had ever known could compare to my wife's divinity.

She began to grind into me, her legs parting to allow me to reciprocate. I held onto her while I rolled my hips to rub my growing erection into her clothed mound. She broke our kiss to bite her lip and hiss, nodding against my forehead for me to continue. It felt fantastic and exciting, like being a boy again. I could feel the excitement escape the tip of my cock and run down my shaft as well.

"Mosha... fuck. Can I undress you, wife?"

"Ooooo, my husband asks permission now. I like that."

I took that as allowance and pulled her skirt down her legs, after she lifted her butt off the bed to oblige. Her pussy was already flowing with need, almost begging me to forgo removing her shirt and diving right in. Lo, I stride to be a man of my word and a job half done would not do.

I reached down and pulled her shirt over her head, releasing her breasts with a gentle fall. Her dark nipples were hardened into little points with excitement. The curve of the bottom of her breast over her chest inflamed my desire for her, driving me to pull my shirt off and throw it over my shoulder. I fell back and yanked my trousers off, letting loose my bobbing cock to Mosha's eyes' delight.

I set upon her breasts, licking circles around her areolas in an attempt to cover every part of her breast with my lips before sucking a perky little nipple into my mouth. I kissed it like I kissed Mosha, gently, and then pressing my tongue into and around it. I let one go with a pop and moved to the next one.

Mosha squeaked and continued to shimmy her hips into the air my own had occupied. I fed her my hand, rubbing her own wetness around her slit. She sighed and drew me back into our kiss, pressing her lips hard against mine. Mosha ground her pussy against my fingers, drawing imaginary circles with her button.