Westrons Pt. 10

Thank you.

The feedback I've received has been wonderful: constructive criticism, genuine praise, and wonderful reflections from fans of fantasy and military history.

Thank you, to those who've suggested that I could make money at this. But I don't really need it. I write for my own enjoyment, first and foremost. Finding out that some of you enjoy it too is a great feeling.

***

Tallia was a godsend.

As an aide, or executive assistant, she was nothing short of miraculous. She could identify half a dozen things that needed to be done, every day, and then do them - without bothering me with the details.

She seemed to have the ability to read my mind, or predict an order that I was going to issue. Sometimes she'd even have it written out, ready for my signature - before I'd even asked her to.

- "Seventh Company need more practice on the range." I said. "Allocate an extra couple of barrels of gunpowder to them."

Just like that, Tallia would hand me a requisition for the quartermaster to issue extra powder to 7th Company. All I had to do was sign it.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

- "You said last week that you were disappointed with their marksmanship, and that they needed more time on the range."

- "So you wrote up the requisition?"

Tallia just shrugged, like it was no big deal to anticipate what I would want.

- "Do you just guess, sometimes?" I asked her.

- "You have a tendency to think aloud." she said. "And you often give me ... hints - of what you're planning to do. It's not that difficult." From what she was telling me, I'd have made a terrible poker player.

- "For you, maybe. Do you ever guess wrong? Write up orders that I never ask for?"

- "Not very often." she said, with a grin.

- "You know, Langoret offered me a barrel of gold for you." I said.

- "You wouldn't trade me for the world."

- "Oh? Really? You're so sure of that?"

- "You wouldn't trade me, Cook." she said. "You told me so."

That was true enough. Because in addition to her administrative excellence, Tallia was also remarkably adept at predicting my mood, and even the level of my desire for her.

The day after her defloration, she was eager for more, but too sore. I went down on her instead, and brought her off twice before I tucked her in and let her sleep.

After that, though, she was all over me. She wanted to do everything, all of the time. And that suited me just fine.

I'd been in the Westron Kingdom almost three years. In that time, I'd had sex with Airta, Themis, Aneli, and Kanitz.

I'm not knocking hemmer. It's absolutely amazing. But it only lasts for a long weekend, at most. Intense, crazy sex - and if you have strong feelings for the person you're coupling with, a dozen times or more, it can be incredible.

After that ... nothing. The feelings are still there, but you're saddled with the harsh fact that you won't be making love with her again for a year, or more.

Tallia wanted to have sex every day. Twice a day, more often than not. She knew when I was aroused, and when I was just mildly horny. She learned very quickly that I could be turned on, and ready to go, even when I wasn't sporting an erection.

She gained confidence in her own body, trusting that I truly did like her little tits, with their puffy nipples, and that I was genuinely obsessed with her trim little ass.

She was also quite adept at predicting her own cycles. She would never experience hemmer, but she wasn't human either. She menstruated regularly: every three months, and then every four months. I couldn't quite believe it, but she assured me that it was true.

- "I'd love to have a baby." she said. "But not now. You need me here."

- "I most certainly do."

She cried her eyes out when I gave her a ring.

It was the ring Queen Maia Matila had pressed into my hand, when I first met her, after out victory at Tonol.

- "It's not a wedding ring, Tallia."

- "I know." she sobbed. "But you only gave flowers to Airta and Aneli ... you gave me a ring."

***

With our successful winter raid, the Crolians were deprived of a major supply depot. They'd have hard time sustaining a large campaign on the central front without it.

In the south, they couldn't tackle Tonol again without siege guns - nor they could they bypass it. That meant that the enemy were most likely to attack in the north. They'd won a battle there last year. Another victory like that would probably bring the Westron Kingdom to its knees.

Kanitz summoned both Langoret and me to Cercen just before spring. I brought Tallia along, though, so that she could visit her family.

- "You can copulate with her, if you want. Countess Kanitz, I mean." said Tallia. "Actually, you probably should. Especially if she wants you to."

- "You're a maniac." I told her. There was no exact word for 'maniac' in Westron - what I'd really told her was that she was 'seriously crazy'.

- "If you mean that I love you, and I want you to be happy ... then yes, I am." she said.

Tallia gave me so much, and asked so little in return. I choked a bit. Then I wrapped her in my arms, and kissed her.

- "I love you, too." I said. "You just have to tell me how to make you happy - because I still don't understand Westrons very well."

Tallia went to stay with her parents, while Langoret and I attended a conference at the Palace.

Aneli was there - very pregnant. She insisted that I run my hands over her extended belly, and feel the weight of her engorged breasts.

- "This is your work." she said. "Spectacular, aren't they?"

- "You may have the greatest chest in the entire Kingdom." I said. "And your ass is pretty incredible, too." I whispered.

What the hell. Keep your employer happy. Especially if it's true.

Kanitz brought our meeting to order.

- "The Queen has nominated General Vis to command on the Northern Front." she said.

Vis had been in charge of the central sector last year. By skillful manoeuvring, she'd kept the Crolians from making any serious progress.

"Your regiments will be attached to the Army of the North."

- "We have to be together." I said. "If they split us up, any effect we might have will be diluted."

- "I agree." said Langoret.

Kanitz smiled. "That is exactly what I argued. Fortunately, General Vis was prepared to be reasonable. She will allow your two regiments to be brigaded."

Kanitz looked at me. I'd explained the value of brigading regiments to her last year. It wasn't something I'd expected her to accept. But she had.

- "Cook should command." said Langoret.

- "That's not necessarily -" I began.

- "We learn from each other." said Langoret. "But you have excellent battlefield instincts. The command should be yours."

- "The Queen agrees." said Kanitz.

End of discussion. I was a Brigadier - with no change in rank.

"Can you stay, tonight, Colonel Cook?" asked the Chancellor.

It was quite incredible, if you ask me. Kanitz had pretty much said "Will you stick around, and have sex with me, Cook?" Langoret said goodnight, and Aneli asked me to have lunch with her a few days hence, to choose names for our child.

I wasn't going anywhere - that was for sure.

- "I'm sorry." said Kanitz. "That wasn't particularly subtle."

- "You don't have to be subtle for my sake." I said. "I am entirely at your service, Countess."

She shivered. "I love when you talk dirty, like that."

First, though, she took me to see my children. Oscel and Caneia were almost 2 years old. They were speaking - combining two and sometimes three words to make little sentences. Tonola was happy to pull my fingers, and easily amused when I reacted by squeaking.

I have no idea what kind of father I might have made, or whether Westron society could accommodate what I would've liked to do. But the simple fact of the matter was this: I wasn't going to be around often enough to help raise these children.

I'd be with the regiment. There was no way to get out of that. Daddy's job involved travel. Kanitz had spelled it out correctly for me: my children would know who I was, and what I was doing. I just wouldn't be around very often to see them growing up.

Kanitz touched my elbow, to get my attention. When I turned to her, she raised her eyes. I looked up.

There was a balcony overlooking the garden courtyard where the children played. Themis was there.

She looked every bit as beautiful as I remembered. She waved, and smiled, and my heart broke all over again. Tears filled my eyes.

- "Papa cry." said little Caneia.

***

- "I'm sorry." said Kanitz, afterwards. "I thought that you would enjoy seeing her. She wanted to see you."

- "I appreciate it." I said. "I didn't expect to react ... that way."

Kanitz nodded. She didn't press me on it. We had dinner together.

"How is Tallia?" she asked.

- "She's the best aide ... put it this way: if I wanted to create the perfect aide, Tallia would be better than anything I could've imagined."

- "So I hear. That's wonderful. And ... you two have copulated?"

I swear, I could live to be 100, and spend all those years here - but I'd probably never get used to the way Westron females talked about sex. Especially how easily they discussed sex with someone else.

Unless I was seriously mistaken, Wenzla was planning to fuck me a couple of times before dawn. Yet she thought it perfectly appropriate to discuss my sexual relationship with another woman - not very long after letting me visit my children by two other women.

She saw the confusion on my face, and wanted to know if I was upset.

- "Not at all." I said. "Just ... bewildered." I explained why.

She listened attentively, storing away everything I said in her prodigious memory. "Yes," she said, "I have every intention of copulating with you, Cook - immediately after you kiss and lick me again. I've been dreaming of that, over and over."

"But why would I care - or worry - if you were doing the same thing to young Tallia yesterday? I hope that you were: she's a lovely girl, and deserves as much happiness as you can give her. And the more practice you get ... the more I benefit."

- "You're not ... jealous?"

- "Was Tallia jealous, that you would be spending the night with me? I would be very surprised if she was."

Amazing place. Incredible women.

Kanitz got me into a discussion on the subject of jealousy. Of course, she did this while wearing a sheer gown that was a little too tight.

"It is a negative emotion, which could cause blame and anger. It's aggressive, and manipulative." she said.

- "But ... what's so bad about wanting to keep the affection of someone you care for?"

- "Why must you keep your lover's affection? That sounds ... possessive. We think of affection as a gift, to be enjoyed."

- "Well, jealousy shows that I care. I mean - would you prefer that I was indifferent about who ... or how many sexual partners you took?"

- "I am hardly indifferent, Cook. I am keenly interested in your sexual history."

- "Okay. Let's try this: what if we were married?" I said.

- "Really?" She raised one eyebrow.

- "Hypothetically, Wenzla."

- "Am I hypothetically a Westron female, or a hybrid?"

I wasn't going to do well in this argument. I didn't even know for sure which side I was on. Kanitz looked delectable, and I was letting her engage me in a debate.

So I let her keep talking, and slipped under the table. I crawled under her chair, and ran my hands up her legs.

- "That is hardly fair, Cook."

- "I was losing the debate, anyway." I said. "Besides - you never play fair, Wenzla."

- "Mmm ... that's true ... oh, there - like that." she said. "Oh - Cook. You're wasted, commanding a regiment. You should be here, at the Palace ... pleasuring the Queen's Chancellor ..."

After her first orgasm, I carried Kanitz to her bedroom, and stripped her. I went down on her again, but she was too impatient to have me inside her.

***

I had dinner with Tallia's family. Talley still seemed to have some reservations about me: I was a hero, who stayed overnight at the Palace. I'd repaid his investment in my career. I was also having sex with his daughter.

Tisucha's attitude had no room for ambivalence. She approved of me wholeheartedly.

- "How was she?" she asked me.

Honestly - have you ever had a mother-in-law (or girlfriend's mother) ask you about their daughter's sexual performance?

- "You taught her well." I said. That seemed to be the correct answer.

Later that evening, I helped Esyle clean up after dinner.

- "How was she?" she whispered.

- "Didn't she tell you?" I whispered back.

- "Of course." said Esyle. "I just wondered ... what you thought."

- "Your sister is incredible."

That seemed to make her happy.

I slept in my customary place, on the floor. Tallia came down, after everyone else was asleep, and pressed her slender body against mine.

- "I'm here ... if you want me." she whispered.

I wanted to laugh out loud. Once I'd told her what everyone else had said - or asked - Tallia did laugh. When I laughed along, she shushed me.

Then she rode me, on the floor of her parents' dining room.

***

On the first day of spring, we got our brigade going. Langoret's troopers were as good as mine, when it came to long marches, and no one balked. They complained - all armies complain. But they moved, and at a good pace.

1st Company were the sharpshooters, armed with rifles. They were slower to load, but accurate at a much greater distance. 2nd Company were elite, the best troops I had.

3rd Company took charge of our 3-pounder cannons. They weren't much trouble on level ground, but rough terrain and steep hills could be difficult.

4th and 5th Companies were carrying 2 cannonballs each; 6th and 7th Companies were loaded down with powder charges. The last three Companies were smiling today; they'd get regular turns as we shifted the jobs around. I wanted everyone to be familiar with working the guns.

They'd all be bitching about the extra weight after a few days of this, but I hoped that the little cannons would change their minds if we got into a fight.

There was no hurry, no forced marches. All of the heavy gear was on ox-carts, travelling with the artillery. But I set out an advance guard and rearguard, as well as flanking parties in skirmish order.

- "But we're on our own land." said Tallia.

- "We'll do it every day. No matter where we are. Because the first time we forget to do it may be the day we get ambushed."

***

The camp at Elkit was immense - much bigger than the one I'd been in with Themis, outside Tonol. General Vis was to lead an army of 15 regiments (2 of them excellent Penchen mercenaries), and a dozen more Free Companies and independent companies: an estimated 18,000 troops.

Langoret and I spruced ourselves up, and went off to meet our Commanding Officer.

General Vis was older than I'd expected, though she kept herself in excellent condition. She had corn-coloured hair, a nose worthy of a painting by Brueghel, and grey-blue eyes. She also didn't seem to be very pleased to see me.

- "I hope, Colonel Langoret, that you will keep your ... colleague ... under control."

- "That shouldn't be necessary, General." said Langoret. "Colonel Cook's behaviour has been above reproach, in the time I've known him."

I loved her for saying it, of course, but it didn't score us any points at the meeting of Inhabers the following day.

The Westron command system was ponderous, at best. General Vis had to explain her intentions to 15 Colonels (many of whom owned their regiments). As a courtesy, she'd also included the dozen Free Company commanders.

Picture a big tent with 35 people stuffed into it, and you'll get the idea. The only consolation, I suppose, was that the Crolian system was equally complex.

Two of them were in hemmer. I was painfully erect through the entire meeting. But I was also intrigued by my first sight of the Penchen Colonels.

The Penchen have no gender. I don't mean that they're asexual: they are neither male nor female. There were two of them. One was tall and dark, the other tall and fair. Honestly, I had no idea if either one was male or female.

General Vis called us to order. A tall, well-built Westron Colonel immediately stepped forward. She had dark hair, dark eyes, and a sharp nose.

- "Is it necessary, General, for the Pylosian to attend our conference? I find his presence distracting, and ..." She turned in my direction, and sniffed. " ... his odour ... offensive."

"I'm quite certain that many here would agree."

Langoret bristled. I think she was about to step forward, but I held out my hand, so that she would have had to brush by me. She took the hint, and kept silent.

- "I was unaware of any odour." said General Vis. "I've been informed that the Colonel in question wears scents to minimize his ... odour."

- "Unsuccessfully, in my opinion." said the imperious Colonel.

- "The Queen had no objection, when I met her." I said, loudly." Nor did the royal Princesses. Or Countess Kanitz. Perhaps the Colonel ... is particularly sensitive."

- "We will meet tomorrow." said General Vis, regaining control of her meeting. "Outside."

***

- "Her name is Berandot." said Langoret.

- "And she matters?"

- "There are currents, at Court, that you are unaware of. I am not the best person to explain them to you. I suggest that you take it up with Chancellor Kanitz."

The next day's outdoor meeting was brief: General Vis notified us that we would be marching in a two weeks' time, and that every Inhaber was responsible for making certain that their regiment was fully supplied, and ready to move.

By nightfall, every soldier in the army had probably heard that Colonel Berandot had insulted me; there had already been two fights between troopers of the Aneli regiment and hers. I had to do something.

The next day, I inspected each company in turn.

- "You may have heard," I told the riflewomen, "that Colonel Berandot insulted me. Nothing could be further from the truth."

"The Colonel merely pointed out that in the confines of the General's tent, my ... body odour was quite ... strong."

"I took it as a compliment."

Some of the veterans were grinning.

"After all, most of you were at Tonol. You probably had occasion to ... be distracted ... by my ... musk. If you didn't, you were probably too far away."

"I know that a few of you ... lost a little sleep."

Maybe I was beginning to understand Westron females - or soldiers, at least. The troopers were grinning, appreciating my attempt to turn the insult into a joke - at Berandot's expense. I was suggesting, in a roundabout way, that she was a horny ... well, they got the idea.

I gave ten similar versions of that speech - one for each company.

- "She won't appreciate that." said Langoret.

- "Good. As long as the soldiers don't feel like they have to fight over it."

***

Langoret and I were ready to go the day after we arrived at Elkit. Two weeks was a long time, when we had nothing to do but wait for the other regiments to prepare.

- "Pack a supper." I told Tallia. There was no Westron word for 'picnic', but she got the idea.

It had to be a dinner for four, because Oshide and Yehla wouldn't let me out of their sight. I asked them for a little privacy, after we'd eaten, which they grudgingly granted.

- "Are you ...?" asked Tallia.

- "We've never made love outside." I said. Tallia loved that 'Pylosian' expression - it was so much more intimate than 'copulating'.

- "Oh! Mmm ... in that case .."

She was out of her clothes in no time. Tallia pretended that she'd found a flower, with a notable scent. She bent over it, and breathed deeply.