The Princess

A silly story from a small kingdom, once upon a time...

***

Just as I release the arrow, the doe takes a step forward. The arrow that should have pierced its heart hits its belly instead. I curse as it runs away, and follow its path. The track is not hard to find, the animal is badly wounded and leaves clear blood marks behind. Still, it may take an hour before it dies, and I have to follow it, if my family should eat well tonight.

It is rough going in the hilly terrain, and for three hours I follow the poor beast, until it finally gives up and dies. I put it over my shoulders and prepare to return home. I have come further than planned, and into an area where I have not been for over a year. But the mountains around me makes it obvious where I am. I can follow the same path back, or cut more than an hour of my walk by going downhill to the bottom of the valley, and follow the river. I choose the latter.

I have not walked far when I see a disturbing sight: the bloody remains of a knight or a soldier. Or rather, the bloodied remains of his clothes and armour, his broken sword, and some human bones. There are burn marks on his clothes, and they are badly torn, as if some monster has killed and eaten him. But no dragon had been seen here since my grandfather was a young boy.

Twenty paces further on, I find the remains of the next knight, in similar shape. His sword is intact, and I take it. Merely to defend myself, not because I will be able to sell it for a good price.

A few steps further, I enter a small clearing in the forest, below a cliff. I see no danger here, and move forward. Just as I reach the opposite side of the clearing, I hear motion to the side. What looks like an oversized lizard is running towards me, and opens its mouth. I jump forward and roll on the ground, the blast of fire passes right over me. As soon as I get up, I swing the sword at the small dragon. I am no swordsman, but somehow I manage to hit it cleanly, and its head comes off.

Then I hear a shout from the direction of the cliff.

"Help!"

It sounds like a woman. I run to the cliff, and a notice a small cave. A woman comes out of the cave. She is wearing what was once an expensive dress, now it is torn and dirty.

"I saw you kill the dragon. Thank you, it has held me here for twelve days."

Then she looks at me with wonder. "But you are not a knight! Dragons abduct maidens of noble blood to attract knights, so they can eat them. Well, I do not complain. Thank you for saving me. I am Irulan, by the way."

I bow to her. "An I am Amroth, and truly I am no knight, just a young man hunting in the forest."

I hesitate. "Your name is Irulan, you say. Like the Crown Princess? Surely, you are not..."

"I am. No, don't do that, you just saved me!" she exclaims, as I drop to my knee and bow my head in awe and respect. "Please, just help me get back to the capital."

We walk down through the valley towards the river below. The princess is in surprisingly good shape, considering that she has been held captive by a dragon for almost two weeks. Sure, she could do with a bath and some cleaner clothes, but the dragon must have fed her. I hope she has not been given grilled knight, but I do not dare to ask.

Eventually, we make it back to my village, where my brothers and parents a glad to see me and the doe, and surprised to see the princess. So are the rest of the villagers. Irulan asks us to help getting her to the capital.

"I can walk no further. Does anybody here have a wagon, that can drive me to the capital? This young man should come with me, my parents will reward him handsomely for saving me. I would like to start right away."

The blacksmith steps forward. "I have an ox carriage. It is not fast, but I can drive to you the garrison down the valley. If we depart now, we will reach it before nightfall. They will have faster wagons to carry you onward. I'll drive you."

"I should drive," his wife says. "It is not proper for a princess to be travelling alone in the company of men." Irulan nods.

It is almost midnight before we reach the army camp at Durtang. First, they will not let us in, but when Irulan stands up and claims to be the Crown Princess the soldiers dare not deny us entrance. The officer in charge comes running out to greet us. Quickly, the princess describes the situation, and the officer speaks to some of the other men in charge. One of them comes to me.

"We will leave in an hour, in two wagons, for it is not proper that anybody travels with Her Royal Highness, and she insists that you should come to the capital with her. Come with me now, we will make sure you are fed before you leave.

"Her Royal Highness will eat in the officers mess, you will have to make do with the soldier's canteen."

An hour later, two carriages pulled by two horses each are leaving the military camp. I am in the rearmost. Never have I travelled so fast! We drive through the night, and make a brief halt in the morning to eat. Then we continue, driving through most of the day. It is late afternoon when we arrive at the capital, and drive directly to the royal castle. Riders have ridden ahead, so they know the princess is safe and on her way.

When we arrive, the two carriages are separated. Servants of the royal court hold the door for me as I alight, and take me to a room where I will spend the night. Never have I seen a bedroom of this size, and behind a screen a tub with hot water is waiting for me. I undress and bathe, before going to bed.

Next morning, my clothes have been replaced by something far more suitable for the royal court. A servant helps me getting dressed, and comes with breakfast for me. Not long after eating, he returns.

"The King and Queen desire to see you," he announces.

I am led to a chamber where the King and Queen await me. I have no idea how to behave in such company, so I drop on one knee, and bow deeply.

"Do get up, don't bow to us. You saved our daughter, if anything we should bow to you. Come, sit with us, and tell us what happened. Today, we are Irulan's mother and father, we want to express our gratitude to you as her parents. Tomorrow, we will receive you formally in the throne room, to express the gratitude of the Kingdom. Then you should bow, of course, but not today!"

I am seated in a large chair, at the same table as the King and Queen. They both seem more friendly, and at their prompting I begin telling what happened. As I talk, I get less and less nervous, until I reach the part of the story where we reach the village. At that point, we are interrupted by a knocking on the door. The princess Irulan enters.

I rise and bow deeply for her, hardly believing my own eyes. The woman I saved was pretty but not looking her best after her stay in the dragon's den. The woman who enters the chamber is truly a princess: tall and regal, and very beautiful. Her long light hair is flowing down her shoulders in curls, her dress is tasteful and expensive, while still enhancing her feminine forms. And her whole face is smiling as she looks at me.

She sit down at the table, and I resume telling my story. The King and Queen often interrupt with questions, and the princess with comments. They are very interested in my view on all kinds of details in the story. Once I have told everything there was to say, they begin asking about the life in the village, and my view on how things are done both in the village and in the city.

Lunch is served in the chamber, and then dinner. It now feels almost like we are old friends enjoying each other's company, the conversation is pleasant and we are even joking together, but still I cannot shake the feeling that they are somehow testing me.

The next morning I am led back to the same chamber, this time the Princess and some of her chambermaids are there. We spend the morning chatting about nothing in particular. After lunch, two gentlemen from the court instructs me in the proper etiquette for my afternoon audience.

At the appropriate time, I enter the throne room. It is a big hall, packed with people who want to see the saviour of the Crown Princess. At the end of the room, seven steps leads up to an elevated dais, where the King and Queen are seated in two large thrones. The Princess Irulan is standing next to them.

A herald announces my name as I enter the room, and the audience falls silent.

I walk through the large throne room, and bow deeply before the King and Queen.

Then the herald speaks again: "The King Regnant and the Queen Consort desire that you approach their thrones."

I walk up the seven steps, and stand next to the Princess. The King speaks to me, but in a loud voice so all can hear him.

"Young Amroth, you have saved not only my daughter, but the heir to the throne. For this the whole realm is grateful.

"It is an old tradition that the person who saves the King's daughter is given her hand and half the kingdom. Three times this has happened in the history of the Kingdom. Unfortunately, three times this has lead to war before the Kingdom was reunited. I cannot allow that to happen again, so I must break with tradition. Instead, I will offer you two possible rewards.

"I may appoint you Count of Normark. The old count died heirless four years ago. If you accept that offer, you will live at Castle Normark, but will spend much of your time here in the capital. As Count of Normark you will be one of the richest men in the country. Furthermore, you will sit in the Council, making you one of the most powerful men as well.

"The other possibility is that I give you the hand of my daughter, but not the kingdom. You will marry her, and gain the title of Prince, but once I die she will become Queen Regnant, and you will merely be King Consort."

At this point the Queen continues, "Of course if Irulan is as wise as I think she is, she will always listen to you. Formally, she will rule, but in reality you will rule together, just as the King Regnant and I do.

"You may only marry our daughter if you truly desire this. And of course, she will have to give her consent. Finally, it is utterly disastrous for a monarchy if the royal couple do not stay together, so before you can marry you must pass the Test of Mutual Compatibility. If after three weeks of testing you both reaffirm your consent to marry, then you will receive our royal approval."

The Queen falls silent, and the King speaks again.

"Which reward do you desire?"

I look at Irulan. She smiles encouraging to me, so I gather my courage.

"I ask for the hand of the Princess."

The King nods. "And you, my daughter Irulan, Princess of the blood and heir to the throne, do you desire to wed Amroth?"

"Yeah, I do!" she almost shouts. Then she puts her arms around my neck, and kiss me. I feel her tongue entering my mouth, and for a long time we stand tasting each other, before finally letting go.

"So be it," the King continues, "We will withdraw to the privacy of the court for the Tests."

The King and Queen rise and leave the room, Irulan and I follow them. Behind us, the citizens leave the throne room. We enter another large room, with a big throne along one of the walls and, strangely, a large bed in the middle. The throne is big enough for two, and as the King and Queen sit down together, he lovingly places his arm around her.

The room slowly fills up with people entering from the main throne room, until more than fifty people are standing along the walls, with Irulan and I standing in the open space in the middle of the room, next to the bed.

I whisper to her, "Is this the 'privacy of the court'?"

"Yes," she whispers back, "this is just the ministers and their wives or husbands, and the ambassadors of the neighboring kingdoms and their spouses, and the members of the Council. And a few more very important people. And all their servants, of course."

The door closes, and the King speaks again.

"Now that we are alone, we can start the testing. There are four tests to ensure that you are compatible with each other, and that a marriage between you can be successful. Three will be done today, the Test of the Eye, the Test of the Mouth, and the Test of the Pussy. Tomorrow, we will begin the Test of Endurance."

He pauses briefly, and look at both of us before speaking again.

"Let the Test of the Eye begin. Irulan, approach your coming groom and remove his clothes."

Blushing, Irulan approaches me, and begins to unbutton my shirt. Am I to be naked in front of all these people? It looks like that is expected of me. I suppress my urge to run away, and blush as she slowly removes my clothes. Soon I stand naked and blushing in front of the King, the Queen, the Princess, and more than fifty other people of both sexes.

"Turn around slowly, so she can get a good view of your body."

I slowly turn around, while Irulan stares at my body.

"Irulan, do you like what your eyes see?"

"I do!"

"Good. Amroth, approach your coming bride and remove her clothes."

She is wearing a long dress, buttoned in the back. I slowly unbutton it, until the dress falls to the floor. Then I remove her shoes and socks. Now she stand in front of me in her underwear, her large breasts supported by a lace bra. I remove the bra and admire the large areola around her nipples. Then, with a beating heart, I reach out for her panties and slowly pull them down, revealing the most luxuriant bush I have ever seen (not that I have seen many).

Slowly, Irulan turns around so I can admire all parts of her body.

"Do you like what you see?" the King asks. "You have to answer, although we can see from your reaction that you do."

I blush again, I am standing naked before so many people, and I am getting an erection!

"I like what I see," I somehow manage to say.

"Good. Since you both like what you see, you have passed the Test of the Eye.

"Let us proceed with the Test of the Mouth. Irulan, kneel before your coming husband and taste his manhood."

She drops on her knees, and takes my cock in her mouth. I gasp as I feel her tongue moving around the tip of it. With her right hand, she holds my balls, while she licks my dick in its entire length. Finally, she begins to suck the tip of it again. Just before I come, the Queen asks her to stop.

"Now Amroth, kneel before your coming wife, and taste her womanhood."

I kneel and put my mouth to her pussy. I feel her hair against my face as I lick her. The pussy is dripping wet, and tastes strongly of woman. I lick her pussy lips and the hair around them, then I use my fingers to separate her lips until I can see her large clit. I take it into my mouth and suck it. She gasps in extacy. After a far too short time, the Queen asks me to stop.

"Did you both like what you did, and what was done to you?" the King asks.

"Yes!"

"Then you have passed the Test of the Mouth. For the final test today, please get into the bed. You must figure out yourselves what to do in this test."

Irulan suppresses a small laugh, takes my hand and leads me to the bed. We lie down together, and begin kissing. I run my fingers over her exquisite body, and fondle her large breasts. She plays with my dick. But soon we are both ready, she lies on her back and I get ready between her widely spread legs. I slowly enter her soaking pussy, and begin pumping. She moans. It does not take long before she screams in ecstasy, and I feel her pussy contract around my dick. I come deep inside her, and collapse on top of her sweating body. For a moment we lie together in bliss, then the King speaks again.

"This concludes the Test of the Pussy, and you two are now officially engaged. Congratulations!

"In a Royal marriage, is is paramount that an heir is produced. To enhance the fertility of the Royal Couple, it has been a tradition for the last five generations that the coming bride and groom remain naked from their engagement until the morning after the wedding. Are you both willing to do that?"

Irulan forms a fist with her right hand, and places it over her heart. "For Kingdom and Dynasty!"

She looks sternly at me. I make the same gesture.

"For Kingdom and Dynasty," I say somewhat hesitantly. Did I just promise to remain naked until the wedding?

"Good. Then that is settled," the King says. "Tonight, an official dinner will be held to celebrate your engagement. I hope to see most of you there."

As we were clearly being dismissed, everybody left the room. Irulan took me by her hand and let me to her chambers.

"This is where you will live until we get married. This is our bed, and the bathroom is here."

She takes me by the hand into the separate bathroom, where somebody has already prepared a large tub with warm water, big enough for us both. We enter it, and I begin washing her all over the body, enjoying the feel of her smooth skin, the large breasts, and the hair around her pussy. Then she rinses off, and do the same for me. By the time we are both clean, we are horny again and ready for her bed.

"We have to wait," she says. "If we fuck again we'll get all sweaty before dinner. There will be enough time for fun tonight."

So we spend a few minutes kissing deeply, before we leave for dinner - naked as we were born. As we approach, a servant asks us to wait until the guests are in place. Then the door to the dining room is opened, and we enter. Three long tables are placed in the middle of the ballroom and a smaller one at the end, on a low dais. More than eighty people are seated at the long table, as Irulan and I enter they all rise and took at us. I blush, I cannot help it, and at my side I can feel Irulan tense up. But she is a princess of the blood, and has to act as one. She gently leads me into the room and to the small table on the dais. Four chairs are placed there, two larger than the other. She leads us to the two smaller chairs, we sit down, and so does everybody else. As soon as everybody is seated, the doors open again and the we all rise as the King and Queen enter. They take the seats beside us.

The dinner seems awfully formal, with three dishes being served by uniformed servants. Irulan and I feel most exposed, sitting naked with all these eyes on us. But soon it gets worse. Dinner is over, the doors to the ballroom are opened, and music starts to play. Irulan and I are expected to have the first dance together, with everybody watching us. Then all the other couples enter the dance floor for the second dance. For the rest of the evening, we are split up and I have to dance with young ladies of the court, while Irulan dances with the young men. Dancing naked with young beautiful, but dressed women is highly embarassing, and I can see that Irulan is not enjoying it either. After about an hour the music needs a break, and Irulan comes to me.

"It is very inappropriate if we sneak off already now, but I don't care! This is awful." She takes my hand and leads us off.

As soon as we reach her room - our room, she hugs me, and kisses me eagerly.

"Finally alone." She pushes me backwards to her bed, and climbs in on top of me.

"I am a princess, and you are still a commoner. So I get to decide who is on top," she jokes, and lies down on top of me.

It does not take long to shake off the discomfort of the formal dance, and soon my dick wakes up. She straddles me, and impales herself on it, riding it eagerly until we both come. Then she collapses next to me, exhausted after a long day. I spoon her, and we both fall asleep.

The next morning I am slightly confused as I wake up in a strange bed, hugging a naked woman. Then I remember where I am: in the bed of the Crown Princess! I enjoy the feeling of her warm body while I wait for her to wake up.

A gentle knock on the door, and a chamber maid enters with breakfast. We eat it together in bed, and then bathe. Then it is time to return to the hall were we are to start the final test.