Twins of Trallis: Squalls

"Oh God, oh God, you have to protect her, I will help you! I must tell my brothers to stop!" Kerys was quickly becoming hysterical as the full impact of her actions became clear.

"Calm yourself. She is quite safe here with me, and I will protect her with all I have at my disposal," he smiled. "Even had you found your proof I would not have given her up easily to the men of Stolle." Mahan reassured her and saw her relax. "You must go and rest now but I ask you to consider if finding this girl you seek is worth sending her to the same fate as her mother. Withdraw your petition for Nyx's release, let it go, and I will allow you to visit regularly."

"I could try, but I fear Badan and Rhys may seek the proof for reasons of vengeance not family reunions," Kerys was calmer now and thinking more clearly. "We must protect the girl at all costs as this plays itself out." Looking at him seriously Kerys considered her next words carefully, "Thank you, for showing me the possible outcomes my need to know of my sister's fate could bear. I see now that while I do not understand it or in any way condone slavery, I can see you love her deeply. A man who only cared for a valuable, albeit pretty and talented slave, would not have spoken to me as you have. I appreciate you sharing your wisdom with me."

"I will not give her up easily. She belongs to me," Mahan said sensing he had won the support of the woman before him to end this crusade for proof of Nyx's parentage. Satisfied he stood and guided her back to his own private tent and her son.

"You will have dinner with us after you have rested," Mahan said stiffly and nodded to the guards who escorted them back to their own tent. Picking Nyx up he took her to the bed and stripped her of her clothes before standing back and letting her undress him her mouth following her hands as they revealed each part of his skin. He allowed her to spend significant time on her knees worshiping his cock and balls with her mouth enjoying the soft fluttering of her tongue and gentle kisses until he was so hard he could barely stand it anymore.

"Come dance for me, my tiny dancer," he pulled her with him as he lay on the bed and positioned her to straddle his thighs leaving her poised above his cock. Cooing softly, she rolled her hips slightly and raised her hands sinuously above her head as she slowly impaled herself on him. Her coos turned to a purring melody as she continued the sensuous rolling movement of her hips and shoulders her hands telling a story of love as she wove them through the air and over his broad chest.

Her breath quickened, and her melody changed as her movements became more rapid as she fucked the man she loved with abandon enjoying the feel of his hands as they stroked her body and helped set the pace as she rode him harder and faster.

Mahan let out a feral growl and rolled her to her back pinning her beneath him and pushing her knees up to her chest before pounding into her giving vent to his own need and feeling her thighs tremble in pleasure. They came, each of them crying out within moments of the other, and they lay in the contented glow of spent lovers for long minutes after regaining their breath.

Only after he had fully satiated his need to possess her fully did he ask of her conversation with Reeve. Satisfied that little of substance had been discussed he left her to clean and refresh herself before the evening meal and sought out his captains for news of any that followed them.

*****

Allora

In the waning heat of the harvest season, Allora danced her way across the green to the home of the physician to meet Clio. Life was good. She was a queen beloved of the king and deferred to by all. She came and went as she pleased, she looked over her shoulder at her minder and revised that thought to almost as she pleased and best of all she was able to see Clio every day.

Allora had grown into her role as the new queen, at first uncertain and unsure of every move, her husband's obvious joy in being with her gave her confidence where she had previously had none. She missed him immensely each time he left the city high in the mountains of Stolle, but she consoled herself by spending much of her days with Clio and Nahn, who helped her navigate the minefields of court politics.

With the relative freedom Clio had gained as an assistant to the physician as well as the respect she earned from the guild masters as an apothecary she had been able to do the things her previous life had trained her for and in an effort to help the new queen, whom she thought of as a daughter, she had sent messenger birds out seeking a snow flake dancer to teach the girl properly now that her talent had shown itself.

A middle aged woman had arrived from the borderlands, near the people of grasslands. She had lost her husband as a young woman and been captured by slavers along with her daughter. Free for many years she had found no trace of her daughter and had returned to her homeland and the people she had left behind after her husband's death. She was a dancer, bringing snow to the foothills, freezing the ponds and filling the lakes with the much needed additional water that failed to trickle past the dams of the Castle fortress in the high hills.

The woman had shown shock and surprise upon meeting the young queen of Lord Arimus, or Prince Ari as he was more widely known. Introduced as Rowena she was given a place within Janus's home, Clio wanted to be able to keep the dancing quite secretive and everyone knew that the walls of the palace had ears and eyes everywhere, so each day Allora danced across the common green to attend the lessons followed closely by Nahn and Jorlando, who were a constant presence in her life.

Entering the infirmary, Allora immediately hugged Clio and curtsied to her dance mistress. She had been told time and time again that she shouldn't curtsy but here in this place it showed due respect to the woman who left her home to teach the novice dancer.

They began, as always with the novice exercises, and Allora quickly warmed up in the heavy silk dress she wore. The movements needed to be precise for her teacher, but Allora found more joy in allowing the movements to flow together rather than be precise and separate and stilted. She did not say anything though as she practised and endured all the criticism of her lack of grace with sweetness and a smile for she knew she was lucky to have the life she now had rather than slaving away in the kitchen with the groping and fondling of the kitchen master and his helpers.

No snowflakes appeared even though the weather had begun to turn cold, not even an early flurry had come along to help her believe she could once again make the tiny snowflakes she had before in her own room. It was as if this woman was stopping her from touching the moments of happiness that the movements brought her that were simultaneous with the magic of the snow.

It was as they walked back across the common green that Nahn asked the girl why she looked so sad and thoughtful that Allora smiled and shook her head, "Do not worry Nahn, all will be fine I am sure, once Ari comes home again."

"This seems a little more than just missing your husband girl, you were fine until you went to dance with that woman," Nahn had not liked a stranger being brought in to tutor Allora regardless of Clio's reassurances. Nahn would be sure to speak to Arimus about it upon his return, which she calculated would be within days if everything went as planned for the council of the nine. Nahn had been a dancer herself and had begun teaching Allora the dance of the snow maiden before Clio had sought a more professional dancer to tutor the young girl. There was something not quite right about the whole situation and Nahn had voiced her objections more than once. Allora though loved Clio like a mother and trusted her implicitly so never complained when asked to do something by the old kine.

Allora and Nahn walked back to their apartments in silence each lost in their own thoughts. She sat at the desk and picked up the last letter she had received from Ari. She missed him. She had been his queen only a few short weeks before he left for the council. Her life with him was one of magic and wonder and her early life of drudgery in the kitchen and secret meetings in the shadows of the trees that bordered the green with Clio seemed to be a distance memory now. She smiled as she thought of how Ari had taken her from the kitchen, protected her identity and loved her in a way she had not known was possible before. In turn, she loved him and tried her best to please him and do as he asked.

Ari kept no other mistresses even though as lord of the realm he should be siring sons. Instead, he seemed content to live in isolated happiness with Allora within this apartment until the demands from his council that he find a suitable bride and marry, moved him to make a momentous decision. He had fought his councillors tenaciously to have Allora granted lands and title, so that they could wed. She had been terrified, knowing she could never live up to the expectations placed upon the Lord's consort, but he was unmovable in his determination.

Adopted legally by the physician Janus, she had taken his name and the title of a lady of the realm, that the physicians newly granted title and position afforded them. She had watched the ceremonies from behind a screen on the closed balcony of an alcove on the upper level of the great hall with Clio and had squeezed Clio in a tight hug as she smiled down on the man who had been so kind to both of them. Janus was now the Duke and as such held title to lands within the southern mountain region of Stolle. A brilliant man, he had aided Ari when the killing had started, and the revolution of the sons of Gerahn had begun.

Janus and Ari had waited and watched as the many brothers of Arimus killed each other in their desperate need to be the last man standing or suffer an undignified death far below the castle proper in the dungeons. It was well known throughout history that as a new lord took his place within the realm of Stolle that any other claimants to the throne did not survive to raise their own army to come against him. Any surviving female relative were often bound to slavery and sold to distant realms. So it was that as Ari waited anxiously building his small loyal men into a small battle ready force and recruiting trustworthy men from his vanquished brothers forces Janus and Clio both had come to him with a strategy of their own.

They had brought the Guild masters of the castle town to Ari's side. They no longer fixed armour, shod horses, or fed adequately the men who were loyal to the remaining brothers of Arimus. It was only with this help that, in the end, Arimus came to the throne of the realm in a bloodless coup that left all others in no doubt that he would be a far better candidate than his sadistic and vengeful father who had ruled for the last several decades undisputed.

She smiled as she traced his fine scripted handwriting with a finger still unbelieving that the Lord of the realm was her husband, and he treated her so well. A small common kitchen slave, he had paid the kitchen guild master dearly for her and then taken her from everything she had ever known. Immediately upon acquiring the slave he sought he had begun to teach her to please him, to hold herself as a lady would, she studied the arts and the pragmatics of court ritual and celebrations. In short he had begun preparing her to be his perfect queen from the moment he took possession of her.

Long forgotten in the recesses of her mind was the knowledge that he was her half-brother, both sired by the dread Lord Gerahn, it always seemed as if Arimus believed she had been born out of Dana by some immaculate conception. It was only at times when she wondered what she was doing here at all that the thought niggled at her and once again she wondered at the morality of the whole situation not that she had many choices in the situation.

They were careful; no one knew of their familial relationship outside of their inner circle. As far as the realm knew there were no surviving daughters of Gerahn. Her upper arms were constantly covered with the latest fashion for the women of the snowbound mountains of Stolle. No one should ever find out, but care needed to be taken which told her that it would not be looked upon favourably. She knew her mother was a much loved woman and desired by many including Lord Gerahn, who had kidnapped her from her family and treated her abysmally before she died giving birth to her daughter.

She missed Arimus dearly and wished fervently that he would come home. She missed him even more at times like this when she was feeling conflicted. He was so decisive and clear and would tell her what she must do. She didn't like to complain, but the woman hired to teach her dancing seemed to be holding her back, and she knew that if Ari could see the stilted and jerking pace at which the new woman made her run through the dance movements that he would insist she stop and thereby take the brunt of Clio's disappointment.

Allora wasn't even sure that Janus would be happy that Clio had brought a virtual stranger into their lives and given her free access to Allora and her body as such in a way that she may see the brand on her arm as she changed into costume or moved within the dance steps.

Allora considered this as if for the first time and considered wearing a bandage on her arm so as to disguise the mark further being able to explain away the mark as a recent candle burn or some such. She laughed at herself; she had not been so paranoid in months. At least not since she had come to the upper floors of the castle and become Ari's mate. She was the queen now, but she could never get used to the thought, let alone call herself that.

She smiled as she readied herself for the evening. She removed the heavy dress with Nahn's help and began the long process of unlacing the corset and stockings so she could slip into one of the beautiful silk night gowns given to her by her husband. She had lived almost her whole life as one of the lowest members of castle caste system; she had worn rags and slept on straw. The idea of owning things was still in many ways very foreign to her, and she preferred to say that the things that she had or wore were things Ari had given her to use and essentially, in her own mind, they still belonged to him.

Life for a royal in Stolle was precarious at best, and she knew should anything happen to her new husband that her life would be forfeit or at best a life of slavery in the northern wastes or the land of the sand lords. Perhaps she thought it would be an adventure to travel so far away. It wasn't like she hadn't had experience with slavery like all the other noble women. Even though the daughter of a lord, she had been a kitchen slave, rejected and unwanted by all except her kine, Clio.

Now she was wanted by all as a friend or companion but what she loved best was being with her husband. Each time she looked at him she saw the love in his eyes and felt the tenderness of his touch she knew that the love they felt was real and would blossom given the chance. Lost in her own thoughts she sat down at the dresser in her room to reread his last letter, smiling as it spoke of his love for her and for her to take care and not attend court until his return. If she didn't know better, she thought she might have been in danger of discovery as she had always been as a child. Her hand absently brushed over the scar on her upper arm.

Allora tried to make sense of what the letter was trying to say, but she couldn't quite fathom why his words that had been trying to convince her over and over that she would always be safe now that she was his, had suddenly changed to warn her to be careful and stay hidden. Moving out into the sitting area, she smiled at Jorlando, one of Ari's most trusted men at arms who had been left behind from the journey to the council of nine deliberations in order to baby-sit Allora for which he had become surly and unfriendly. Still she smiled as she entered, and he nodded in her direction as did the man sitting with him who had arrived from the council with her letter that morning and had shadowed her journey to her dance lesson and back to the apartment in Jorlando's place.

Considering the gruff man as she held the letter in her hand, she decided to speak, "Jorlando," she said in a quiet nervous voice, and he inclined his head toward her inviting her to speak more. "Did you get a letter from Ari last night when mine came in?" Once again he stayed silent but shook his head imperceptibly in the negative.

"It's just that there is a change in how he writes to me; I can't really explain it as more than just a bad feeling I have, and..." she bit her lip considering how to explain the way she felt about the letter. "Well, you have known him his whole life and I thought maybe..." her thought died again as she spoke, and her voice trailed off.

Jorlando held out his hand and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "If it's not too personal?"

She handed over the letter and even though she knew it was probably not the right thing to do; she was grateful to share the burden with someone else and because of the constant presence of her new dance instructor she had not had time to speak privately with Clio this morning. Nahn saw nothing but the best in Ari and would probably have dismissed her fears that something was amiss easily. She watched the gruff warrior as he scanned the letter rereading several parts more than once making Allora blush. She looked away recounting some of the more personal things he had related when he had spoken of missing her in the letter.

Jorlando grunted and passed the letter back. "Keep that safe, I will send for the messenger and see what else we can find out. You will stay with me from now on, no gallivanting off to dance whenever you please." His tone was abrupt and authoritative, but she let out a large breath realising that she was right, something was very wrong and all she could have done on her own was wait in wonder. With Jorlando's help though, she could find out more information and share the worry.

She turned to put the letter back in her dresser. "Put it in with your underwear, not in the usual place. We don't want anyone seeing that if they come snooping, until we know what we are up against. It may be nothing but you are right, the letter has a bad ring to the words." He noted the lines of concern appear around her eyes and stood, "Do not worry little queen, I will not leave your side until the Lord returns." It was a formal way of speaking, but she guessed that was the warriors way of things.

The following day the warrior followed her to her dancing lesson. He had refused to leave as she went through the warm-ups and motions of the beginning of the dance. Enraged he called a halt. "I do not know what game you are playing with the young Queen but that is no dance of this land, and I refuse to make her a laughing stock within the realm." Allora watched the colour drain from Clio's face and her tutor bluster before finding herself propelled from the home ahead of Jorlando, who gripped her arm tightly and forcibly walked her back to her apartments.

Shouting for Nahn, he questioned the woman about how long that ruse of dance lessons had been going on. Why should they want to teach her something that looked so ungainly and uncoordinated when she had been a beautiful dancer. Nahn was smug in her opinions about the so-called dance lessons, and Allora stood open mouthed as they discussed the two women as if they were criminals. Jorlando had barred both Clio and Rowena from Allora's apartments pending further investigation into what had occurred.