The Champion's Companion Ch. 13

He stepped forward to the wary king who looked so small in his throne. He bent over him staring into the man's wide terrified eyes.

"Menthino has decided that if the government is penniless then the ones governing would be the select few guild members. We feel the prince is valueless unless you can take your government back. Frankly, this is a historical moment and I know you have made recent efforts to control the Guild. We feel he can be helpful in the task. Stop them or we will starve them. I will be in town until the situation can be judged."

The King nodded weakly at his gross violation of space, sovereignty, and breach of protocol. Marcos spun on his heel and left disgusted with the display.

In the outer chamber, he found the Queen and two maidens peaking through a privacy screen at the raucous noise. She was a very light blonde with a slender tanned body and hazel eyes. Her breasts were apple sized and fit her supple frame. Her dress was a cream-colored gown worn off the shoulders that had gold embroidered waves. It clung tight around her form until the knees where it flared out and pooled on the floor. Diaphanous creamy gauze raised off the back of the dress and attached to her wrists creating wings.

Marcos was perplexed at what he was seeing. He didn't understand why she would be in the common area, unguarded, and peaking at a session she was suppose to be presiding over. He paused in thought long enough for the maidens attending the Queen to speak up.

"What are you doing in the Queen's presence?" A black haired young woman challenged. The Queen waved her quiet and flowed to him with arms outstretched.

"How fortuitous to have met our savior." She said as she embraced him. She pulled back and pulled at a lock of his hair and studied his face. "I will have a party in your honor on the grounds tonight. Please come and be honored. I understand you serve your Queen well. I would be honored if you championed me during this dreadful time." She looked up at him for a response but changed her mind and stepped away.

"I shall await you tonight, my knight." She said quietly before giggling and running off with her retinue.

Marcos was left standing in the hall open mouthed as he tried to remember and decipher what happened. He understood that something not entirely bad happened. He couldn't understand the motivation, or her intent in using him for something. He remembered also that married queens don't have Champions but he dismissed the notion since Menthino and Sellis were worlds apart.

He stood thinking and pondering as ambassador Pennion huffed into the room.

"This is where you went! This is the private chambers of the royals. You went the wrong way! Come on the others are waiting!" The sweaty official snapped.

Marcos was shocked, it didn't feel he took any missteps. He looked around as he followed the ambassador out. The problem was the rooms all looked the same. The party was an excellent convenient stroke of luck. He didn't trust the apartments at all. He could only figure the Goddess was up to something again.

Back in the carriage on the way back to ambassador's apartments, he related the change in schedule.

"That's good right? It was your plan?" Kaarthen asked.

Marcos shrugged. "Yes but I don't need the queen trying to keep me busy."

Ambassador Pennion added his thoughts. "Rumor has it the two royals are estranged. She was the crown that he married into, but he tries to act like a pureblood."

"Well he does a shit job of it." Marcos remarked. "Why would she call for a Champion now? Why would she name a foreigner to the post? And why me?" Marcos asked out loud.

The prince sat back and spoke sagely. "I think my mother is a clever woman. She knows you're powerful."

"What are you still doing here?!?" Marcos shouted nearly bolting up out of the seat.

"When we left, Prince Monto followed," Ein explained quietly.

"I don't care. You were presented. You were reunited. Go back and fix your precious city your way." Marcos said with frustration creeping out.

The Prince pouted. "I don't trust what you'll do, especially now that you're close to my mother."

"Oh?" Marcos started to get bellicose. "Oh? I'll tell you what I'll do..."

"Gentlemen, Gentlemen, please let's be civil." The ambassador cautioned. "Their party will be in a few hours and we'll be able to settle most of the stress then." His hand slid over towards Mara.

"Prince, tell me what your clever mother knows about me." Marcos said after a long quiet moment.

"The rumor says that the Menthino's royalty has an advisor that's also an assassin. Apparently, everyone considers him extremely skilled. Rumors go on to state a few, ah, other things. But, generally I think she wants you to get information for her or something." The prince said finally.

"Interesting." Marcos mused wondering how much of that information was being acted on.

When the group arrived back at the apartment, the three girls went off with Kaarthen to go clean up and prepare. Prince Monto found himself unguarded for the first time in over a month. They sat and drank the whiskey the ambassador had as they waited.

A servant came in and announced the arrival of the captain and his two guards. The three men joined the others sitting and sipped whiskey as Marcos told them the plan.

Marcos summed it up. "Basically, the prince is on home soil but seeks the safety of this diplomatic mission. At the party, you two will assist in guarding him. If anything happens, get him out, but if someone demands you leave, or claims responsibility for him just make him sign for him and be on your way or enjoy the party."

"What do you expect to happen?" The captain asked.

Marcos noted the prince looked over his glass with somber resignation. "Someone will try to kill him again." Marcos said plainly.

After a few glasses, the women came down clean and elegant. The robes had been washed to a new sheen Marcos forgot they had. Kaarthen wore a daring dark blue satin gown that sparkled and matched Rinis' robe. She also wore Marssel's silvery bracelets and spider web necklace. Her cleavage was covered by a light blue and black silk scarf that she seemed at a loss of what to do with.

As Marcos stood, he realized they might have drunk too much. The group wound their way back down to their carriage. The ride was again slow and nerve wracking. The space seemed smaller with the three large men.

Finally, the carriage stopped in the front courtyard of the Palace. Marcos could breathe and he hopped out happily and slightly wobbly. The group was escorted into the Palace and up wide marbles stairs with a purple and gold runner. The walls were old yellowed pink sea marble with etched pictures of valiant men doing difficult things in what seemed to be violent cold water. The pink of the stones interior made the display striking with its depth.

At the top of the stairs, an equally wide hall continued straight back. The prince led the way and they found themselves moving closer to music being played.

They were presented and found the large party room almost empty. The King sat in the back, surrounded by a few young pretty women and several aides that Marcos recognized from the senate. In the front, the queen sat speaking quietly with several elegant older women in lounges that made a circle around an open fireplace. Perhaps little more than a dozen people including servants were in the expansive room.

The party was near silent and the atmosphere was stifling. The happy prince ignored the stress and ran to his mother.

"Oh baby come here I'm so glad to see you." The Queen said standing to hug him. She wore a similar dress to what she wore earlier in a dark forest green with matching sheer fabric wings. Her breasts were nearly exposed and a sheer shawl seemed to be all that held them in.

She eyed Marcos as she petted her son's neck. Marcos was disturbed at why she would be so happy to see him.

"Ha! The guests of honor are here! Dinner come, let's eat!" Boomed the inebriated King.

Marcos caught the Queen rolling her eyes. The party moved to a dining room down an unlit hall. The royals entered by opposite doors, but they both sat at the head of the table opposite Marcos and Prince Monto. They couple sat as far away from each other as the large table allowed. The other guests stayed quiet and didn't meet each other's eyes as they were seated around the table.

"Lord Panthi, you have a long and distinguished career in Menthino how long will you stay?" The Queen asked directing the room's eye's onto Marcos and his half-eaten soup. He noted she wasn't touching her dish. He also noticed the dark half moons of aureoles coming out over her dress.

"I have to be sure of Sellis path in this critical time. Menthino needs a clearer understanding of what the city is doing. Treaties maybe nullified or need amending depending on the directions of this house, the guild activities, and the economic situation in the region." Marcos answered coolly.

"I wouldn't call us a city any longer. Our borders stretch south nearly to your borders now." The boisterous King challenged.

"You don't actually control those lands. I'm curious King Diddeon, do the citizens of those lands know your name or bow to you? All you have done is wrecked them economically." Marcos said disgusted. "In point of fact it isn't you doing it. The guild drains them, hoards the money, and placates your ambitions by sending a representative to senate to complain. Without tax revenue, you're reduced to using a legal filing to seize the guilds properties. We can't tell yet if you really control anything, or if they pay you off in favors and fake money. But, we do know that once you can't pay for your army and the Guild picks up the tab, Menthino and everyone else will no longer recognize the crown. But, you will perhaps be a state then." Marcos deadpanned.

"Ridiculous! We own a stake in their holdings. They are based here." The King sputtered spraying the table.

Marcos waved him off. "Is that all that matters to you? I have a pretty good idea what the future holds and we've only been here one day."

A calm voice interjected. "Please be at ease. The king has worked hard to help the economies grow stronger." The advisor to the kings left explained.

"And is it working?" Marcos asked giving up on eating. "Have any of you been out and seen what's happening? Are the numbers you have for everything showing a better picture? Your experiment has failed gentlemen. You need to correct because it won't work for much longer and Menthino will watch the west starve if it teaches you anything."

"The guild has plenty of grain stored." Another aide countered.

"Will they sell it for gold, or give it to people with the fake paper money? And can you make them do the right thing?" Marcos replied. Inside he was astounded by their fantasy world.

"I think that's an excellent point that cuts straight to the heart of the issue. We should control more than a stake of that behemoth. I also like the idea of taxing the guild." The Queen jumped in.

"Silence! You know nothing!" The King roared. The room stilled after his outburst.

"You're selling your crown for paper and you tell her she knows nothing?" Marcos chuckled in the tense room.

"You can't see it. The vision." The king gestured.

"We have an idea and several historical references." Marcos laughed.

"Of what?" The king asked.

Marcos could see the stubborn stupidity the prince had received from the man. "Well to start, let's have you pay for something necessary like this meal. We'll use the utensils as currency. Now only I can cook so I want a knife from everyone who wants to eat or has eaten." He said tapping the table.

The guests warily disarmed themselves and slid a growing pile of silver down to his end.

"Excellent. Now since I work in your house and I do pay rent I won't give you nice silver but I'll give you a carrot from my soup. Feel free to return that for more soup anytime you want."

"Okay, give me more." The prince said playing along.

"I'm sorry but the price is a carrot and a fork." Marcos said and looked around. "Is anyone else hungry?"

"You only paid us a carrot, that's not fair." An aide cried.

"Sad story, perhaps that carrot is useless to anyone but me, unless of course I don't value it either. I set the prices and no one makes food. Now, I can leave this place and you'll get no rent except someone else's carrots from me. Everybody out there wants soup. Maybe, I can get them to think they need it. Maybe the next place I go off to won't charge you too much extra to get what you need. Maybe if you charge me less rent or work it for free I'll come back, but then you'll have to pay me a spoon to renegotiate." He mused. "You see gentlemen you're being robbed. Taking carrots for coin like fools. Once I have all, or even most of the table's silverware what do you think happens next? You think I would listen to a bunch of silly rabbits with fucking carrots to trade?" Marcos nearly shouted. He could feel the brandy getting to him.

"Here." Marcos tossed out some 'guild money' he collected. "Try buying a living with that."

At that moment, the prime rib came to the table. Marcos was disturbed for a moment from his tirade and felt eyes on him once again. He reached out and stopped Kaarthen as she was about to bite. He looked at the thin grained meat. He used a knife from the pile to cut it and watched the seared uncooked meat pump blood across his plate.

Nonplussed he looked up. "I thought horse meat was special in Sellis." Marcos said looking around the table and setting his silverware down. "When have you all started serving it?"

"We only serve it to poor guests like you." The King said smiling as if he made some point.

"In Menthino we issue proper challenges. I don't even know what this means except you likely killed an expensive horse to make a incomprehensible point." He said doodling in the blood.

"This is better, that was a horse Menthino refused to buy."

Marcos cocked his head at him further confused. "We didn't have to buy it. You also didn't 'save' this horse anyway it would seem."

The king picked up his mug. "You easterners don't understand."

"No, we just get to the point and issue a challenge you crown wearing imbecile." Marcos hissed.

"Fuck you!" The King bellowed and stood. The table stood with him except Marcos, Karthen, and the amused Queen.

"Fuck me? No fuck you! Take my challenge you blustering stain on the throne." Marcos pushed.

"Ha! You don't control me. Dinner is over." The King said and threw his sterling goblet down the table making a mess of shattered crystal. His crowd of sycophants was cowed by their god's displeasure.

"You're a disgusting pig-child and unfit to rule." Marcos stood and exited. In the dark hallway outside, he rubbed his head and walked back to the lounge.

He was very sure of the fool's incompetence. Everything about this place seemed insane and far-fetched. He wouldn't even believe his own report on this night if he read it. He didn't think any king would tolerate challenges or loud arguments in his halls. Or assassinations attempts on the heir in their own capital. Just the rumor of that would publicly lower them.

He didn't get far before a soft hand pulled him out of the hall.

"The Queen wants to see you. But I want to see you first." A husky voice murmured in his ear.

Marcos could only feel her body and her hand, as she pressed close and rubbed against him. Her hair was a citrus smell similar the style Mara taught to the girls. The touch of her lips surprised him. She kissed what she could of his neckline and shoulders. He figured her to be short and his hands on her waist still brushed her hair.

Marcos let her guide him backwards into a wall abscess and onto a bench in the dark. She turned and released a curtain that came around the benches seating area and shrouded them in dark.

In the darkness, she was only sound, touch, and smell. Her moans in his ear as he rubbed her bud under her dress. The heat he felt after lifting his robe and embracing her. Her weight as she fell into his lap. He kissed her passionately as he felt her grope for his cock under his pants. His hands joined her and he felt the naked heat of her core on his hands then his cock as it flopped up and out. She tried to mount him quickly but his cock made her yelp as she jumped onto it. His girth made him too large for her hole.

Marcos ran into the problem commonly with virgins. Mara was the smallest girl in recent memory that could accommodate him.

She moaned in whimpers as she rose and fell onto him and tried to jam him in.

"Oh no, oh goddess he'll never fit any more." The woman bemoaned.

She said into his chest as she struggled. Her pussy wasn't completely ready but this girl was in too much of a rush or was too inexperienced to take him.

"Stop and let me do this." Marcos ordered and raised her up and spun her around.

He hoped she was standing when he let go and bent her over to dig in. Her pungent sweets were filling the curtained vacuole they occupied. His mouth dug into her mining for her secrets and made her cum.

She squealed surprised. "Oh my? What was that? Oh, this is much better than what I could have imagined."

He pulled her back onto his cock and like magic, it sunk right in. Her tightness was tightest around the entrance. The rest of her pussy seemed a wet soft sac he prodded into. Unsatisfied he pushed harder up into her. For several minutes, he was barely able to stay hard. Finally, he pushed her to the floor, pushed her from her hands and knees to her back, and brought her legs up.

In that position, she was only slightly better and the liquor was burning out of his system in a hurry. She contracted around him and grunted an orgasm. Marcos was glad for the fiction and sad when she released. He pumped harder trying to get a spark of something.

"Did you cum baby? Hurry up and cum we got to go. Mmoh ya hurry up baby." She pleaded.

In all the history of his fucking, those words shattered his concentration like few others. Marcos grunted loudly and got up. He felt dirty for faking it and felt a frustration at this woman for wasting time and energy. He fumed as he dressed angrily. He wanted to leave the whole crazy useless city in ashes starting with this useless scag and ending in...

"Party's down the other way, thanks for the ride." Said the woman who blew him a kiss, dressed, and flounced off. Marcos followed reluctantly. He felt the drinks of the day already turning his mind into a familiar aching thought collapser of a hang over.

In the light of the party room, he was confronted by the Queen's maid who requested his audience. Across the room, the King sat holding a woman with a light tan and ass length shiny black hair. She smiled and winked at him and the King followed the gaze and gave him a poisonous look. Ein and Rinis played Queen's crux on a converted table. Around them, were several interested spectators. Marcos followed the maid while holding onto an internal ball of sexual frustration that threatened to explode.

In the separated room sectioned off by heavy purple curtains over the doorway, he found a sight that reenergized him. In a decorative display that would rival his tower women Kaarthen, Mara, the Queen, and her friends sat upon pillows talking. They were surrounded by trays of fruit and attended by her maidens.

"Hello Lord Panthi, please sit with us." The Queen called reaching for him. She brought him down to sit as the women around him adjusted to sit up and conveniently formed a circle. "I am so glad you are here." Said the Queen calling the impromptu meeting to order. "I feel we have much to discuss and we think your knowledge and judgment could help us. Sellis is in a critical time and place."