Blackhawk Hall Ch. 01

"Much better," Christi said with a laugh, and led Arilee back into the hall. She had Arilee hand off the tray to another servant once inside, and then led her to a staircase a short distance down the hall from the servant's commons.

The pair ascended the stairs, and a man at the top stepped back up out of the way when he saw them coming. He looked even more muscle-bound than the Duke — thick-necked, with a face so square that it appeared almost unnatural. "Your bath is ready, Christi." His voice was deep and guttural, and Arilee could see a pair of short tusks when he spoke. She had an even better look at the tusks when he smiled.

"You're too good, Kronk. This is Arilee. She's going to be taking Gwen's place. Arilee, this is Kronk. If you need a bath drawn, or need anything heavy moved, he's the one to call."

"Pleased to meet you," Arilee said with a bright smile.

"Ho ho. Charming to an orc-faced clod — I like you already."

"He's got a heart of gold, so don't be intimidated by him. We don't pay much attention to racial prejudice around here, for obvious reasons. Thank you again, Kronk." Christi blew him a kiss when she finished.

The half-ogre gave them another toothy smile, and then started down the stairs.

Christi pointed out doors along the hallway. "Your room is right here by the stairs. Our room is at the end of the hall. You can't miss it — they went crazy decorating the door. We have our own kitchen next to our room, and storage rooms off it. If we ask you to fetch something, odds are it will be there. We don't like to bother anyone if we can help it. They have enough to do downstairs, keeping this place up."

The Duchess gestured for Arilee to follow. "The bath is right down here. Feel free to use it if you want. Just let us know you're in there so Cerebus doesn't accidentally walk in on you, and embarrass you. You're going to like this."

When Christi opened the door to the bath, Arilee could not help but gasp. The bathing pool would let four or five people stretch out comfortably within, never touching each other. Arilee could not believe the steaming pool was on a floor above ground.

"It's sealed and heated by magic, otherwise it would be useless. Unfortunately, it still has to be filled the hard way. That door over there leads to the balcony where Kronk hauls up the water barrels to fill it. Be careful of the drainage channel below the balcony, because when this thing drains out of the pipe into that channel, it turns into a raging river for a minute or two."

"It's amazing," the stunned blonde woman remarked softly.

"I saw something similar to this once, and it was my one dream. When they started refitting this hall for us, Cerebus had them make it for me. Ashtar suggested we build it up here for privacy and used his magic to make it possible."

A quick movement of her deft fingers popped the button on Christi's skirt. She kicked off her shoes and then let the skirt fall to the floor, "Why don't you join me? It makes more sense than you standing out here listening."

As much as Christi's backside had drawn Arilee's eyes to it in the skirt, it was even more difficult to ignore clad only in a pair of light panties. That covering slid to the floor almost immediately after the skirt, leaving the raven-haired woman's perfect, heart-shaped ass bared to Arilee. Her fascination only deepened as Christi bent over to pick up both articles of clothing and hurl them into a basket near the door.

"Will you join me, then?" Christi asked as she turned back toward Arilee and pulled off the tight linen top she wore. Her breasts were perfectly shaped, and just slightly larger than what many men called a 'perfect handful' when they didn't think women were listening. The tips of her perky globes were a pink almost bordering on red, surrounded by circles of very light brown. The hair on her mound was thick and as raven-black as that on her head, but trimmed very short. Around her lips, she was trimmed so short as to appear almost completely bare.

"Arilee?"

It was only when the Duchess spoke again that Arilee realized she had been staring the entire time the other woman had been undressing, and had not answered the question. Embarrassment consumed her and she covered her face with her hands, "I'm sorry, I..."

She felt a hand on her shoulder and fought past the desire to keep her eyes closed. She looked up at the Duchess, who was smiling and looking directly into her eyes, "I thought I caught hints of this in the tavern. Are you attracted to other women?"

Tears welled up in Arilee's eyes, "I'm so sorry..."

Christi put a finger to Arilee's lips for just a moment, "Shh, that's something else we don't pay much attention to around here. I feel the same way, and I'm attracted to you too, actually. Let me guess, you're attracted to men, but you've always found your eyes wandering over other women and been scared to death by it?"

The blonde woman nodded her head and Christi smiled brightly, "You don't need to be afraid of those feelings here. Many of the women here in the Hall share your feelings, and those who don't feel that way understand and will not judge you for it."

Arilee sniffled and wiped her eyes, "It scares me; it just feels — wrong."

"That's only because you've been resisting it," Christi said with a crooked grin, "Please, join me in the bath, at least then we'll both be naked and on an even footing. Besides, I let you give me the once over, so it's only fair you give me a peek."

Christi's grin and casual manner helped dull the embarrassment and self-recrimination that had threatened to consume Arilee only moments before. She found that she was smiling as well, and hesitantly started to disrobe. Christi climbed into the bathing pool and sank into it with a deep, contented sigh.

Still quite self-conscious, Arilee stepped toward the tub when she had finished disrobing. Christi smiled at her and said, "You're beautiful. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

The Duchess drank in the sight of Arilee's nude body. The blonde woman's breasts were not quite as large as hers, but were very rounded and surely firm. Arilee's nipples were also darker and smaller, and the hair on her mound was a full natural carpet slightly darker than the hair on the woman's head.

Arilee stepped into the pool and settled down opposite Christi, echoing the earlier sigh of contentment from the Duchess.

"Any time you want to talk about things like this, just come to me. I understand what you're going through, and I won't judge you one way or the other. It's right for me, but it might not be for you. We're going to be spending a lot of time together, so we may as well be friends."

"It just seems a bit odd thinking that way of your ruler."

"Pshaw, we're not rulers, there's no way to rule this Duchy. We just work within the rules, such as they are, that have been in place for decades. We're just patching up the leaks that have always led to chaos in the past. We've kept the place intact, and actually started civilizing it a bit in the last two years, but we've managed it because we're not trying to rule. We settle disputes amongst those who have held that position long before we arrived, and encourage a little more co-operation than they had been used to.”

"Do the people approve of you as a ruler — being a woman, I mean?"

Christi picked up a cake of soap and moved up onto the shallower edge of the pool to wash while Arilee was speaking. "Didn't you live in the Duchy before you came here?"

"Yes, but it's much different away from here. Even the other large towns seem more..."

"Normal?" Christi suggested with a laugh.

Arilee nodded her head and started to explain more, but a sudden change in Christi's demeanor gave her pause.

Christi stood up quickly and stepped out of the bath. She bent down to a small wooden chest nearby and opened it. "Arilee, get ready to run and hide. I felt something and I hear some sort of..."

Arilee screamed when some horrible green-skinned creature appeared out of thin air next to Christi.

The monster stood around four feet tall, and was covered in a coating of dirt. It revealed a mouth full of pointed teeth when it made a loud, nerve-wracking yipping sound. It had a filthy mop of coal black hair atop its head, and a long matted beard of the same hue. Muscles bulged in its wiry frame, and every finger and toe ended in a yellow claw that looked razor sharp. The creature seemed disoriented for a moment, but then raised its club into the air and issued a snarl of challenge in Christi's direction.

The Duchess lashed out with a kick, catching the creature in the groin and dropping it to its knees. A follow-up kick splattered the creature's nose across its face and caused it to slump to the floor unconscious.

A second monster — even uglier than the first — appeared across the room near the door. Christi reached into the box again, withdrawing two large daggers from within. She quickly interposed her body between the snarling creature and Arilee, reaching back to hold out one of the daggers to the frightened blonde.

"Take it. Just slash at them if they come near you. They're stupid as hell, so just slash and back away carefully until I can help you, if one gets too close. Don't drop it, whatever you do!"

Her hands closing around the dagger, Arilee backed away in the bathing pool as far as she could from the creature, which suddenly charged Christi. Just as the nude Duchess expertly dodged a clumsy club stroke and stabbed the monster in the throat, another appeared nearby.

The creature barely had enough time to recover from its disorientation — and not nearly enough time to put up a defense — before Christi jerked her dagger free of one creature and stabbed it into the back of the new one. In the moment it took Christi to make the attack, yet another of the creatures appeared.

The new monster appeared on the far side of the room, and held a crude spear. Christi cursed and charged the creature. She knew she could dodge a throw with little trouble, but suspected that Arilee might not be so skilled or lucky. Yet another creature, wielding a rusty short sword appeared next to the spear wielder.

Arilee trembled and looked all around her — frightened beyond belief, but also fascinated by the Duchess dispatching the creatures with such speed and efficiency. The nude woman had not taken a single scratch, but the blood of the creatures she had already killed decorated her skin with macabre spatters. Arilee tightly clutched the blade Christi had handed her, concerned for both of them as the Duchess charged two of the creatures.

She need not have feared, because Christi hurled her dagger and stuck the spear-wielding creature in the throat. The other creature made the mistake of looking at its gurgling companion when the dagger struck, and Christi was upon it before it turned its attention back to the threat before it.

Again, Christi lashed out with a perfectly aimed kick to the groin. As had the previous creature, this one crumpled to the floor with a groan of pain, dropping its weapon. Christi scooped up the rusty blade, almost catching it before it could touch the floor, and ran the creature through with it. She bent immediately to tear her dagger from the other creature's throat, and then dropped into a crouch to scan the room, holding both weapons at the ready.

No more creatures appeared, but Christi was far from ready to relax. Too late, she remembered the first creature that she had only knocked unconscious. It had regained its wits — and club — and had risen up behind Arilee.

"Arilee, look out!" The Duchess screamed as she charged toward them. She knew she was too far away, and at this angle, she couldn't risk a throw of her dagger for fear of hitting Arilee.

Arilee turned and screamed, seeing the creature rising up behind her. Somehow, the instructions Christi had given her managed to boil through the fog of fear, and she flailed with her dagger at the creature. A slash across one of the creature's wrists caused it to drop the club it held with a cry of pain. Bright fountains of the creature's lifeblood spurted with each beat of its heart. The creature screamed in pain and swooned.

Christi started to hurl her dagger when the monster's staggering put it in a position where she could safely throw, but she recognized that the creature was dead anyhow. It had already lost enough blood from the spurting wound to become disoriented, and would die within a few more heartbeats.

The creature fell forward as it lost consciousness from the lack of blood. Again, Arilee screamed, as it seemed the creature was coming for her. On instinct, she stabbed the creature in the chest as it fell forward. When it slumped over the edge of the bathing pool, Arilee stabbed it again and again, screaming in fear and anger.

"It's dead, Arilee. You're okay. I don't see any more of them."

The blonde woman pulled the dagger free of the creature's back with trembling arms, and then backed away from it. The water in the bathing pool was tinged red with the blood of the monsters, and Arilee's body was covered in blood as well.

The door burst open at that moment, revealing Kronk and the Duke. The pair of warriors entered and quickly scanned the room for enemies.

Christi hurled her dagger into a cabinet when the two men entered. "We got them all Cerebus. What in the bloody hells is this — some kind of joke? Who would waste the energy to break our wards and then teleport Wood Trolls in here?"

Cerebus appeared to suddenly recognize that both of the women were naked. Kronk had already turned to stare at the wall, and Cerebus concentrated his vision on Christi to preserve Arilee's modesty as much as possible. "The whole bloody Hall. We've got the things stinkin' up every corner now. Ain't a soul took a scratch though — if you two are all right?"

"We're okay. They were only Wood Trolls. It would have taken at least twice as many to be a threat to two unarmed, naked women."

"Kronk, go fetch a washtub and stick it in our room. The ladies need to clean up and this isn't the best place to do it right now. Get some people up here to clean this damn mess up. I'm going to go check things out, Babe. You just worry about Arilee."

Christi nodded her understanding and the two men left. She then walked over to Arilee. "Are you okay?"

Arilee looked a little confused, but seemed to snap into focus after a second or two. "Yes."

Christi gently prodded at Arilee's tightly closed fingers to release the dagger. "You can give me that now. It's over. Those were some good stabs and slashes. Have you trained to fight with a dagger?"

"No, I just... I don't know what I did. I don't remember."

"We'll have to do something about that. Come on, let's go to my room and throw something on. We'll get washed up, and then we can talk." Christi kicked one of the monsters on the way out of the room. "That's for ruining my bath, stinking vermin."

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Once both women had washed, they dressed in light cotton shifts that Christi produced from a nearby armoire. A short while later, the two women sat sipping wine in the couple's private sitting room. The Duchess gave Arilee time to relax and get a bit drunk, so that the blonde could put the fright of the attack behind her.

"This wine is so good," Arilee remarked.

"It had better be — it's Boldheart Red. If Thakkor sent us second rate stuff from his own private stock, I'd kick him in he shins the next time I see him."

"Thank you for protecting me from those things. What was it you called them?"

"Wood Trolls. They're dumber than dirt, but vicious. Your average stray dog could kill a pack of them, so we were never in any serious danger. You gave a pretty good accounting of yourself, as I said. We should put you through a little weapons training. I would have never thought you would need it here in the Hall, but today proved me wrong."

"I don't think I would do very well," Arilee said as she took another sip of the wine.

"I'm not trying to flatter you. You held that knife very well. Either it's skill from some more mundane task such as cooking, or you're a natural. Either way, it couldn't hurt to learn a little bit of technique. You don't look the type, and that can be as deadly a weapon as the blade in your hand. You can't stop what you're not expecting."

"I'll try, if you think it's a good idea."

"Good. Now, what you will be doing is essentially my personal servant. All that means is that you're specifically assigned to me, not that you have some special duty to wait on me hand and foot. It just means that I would prefer you to be nearby, in case I do need you. I like to have someone I'm comfortable with around that I can develop a friendship with. I think I have that in you."

"Thank you, Christi."

"There you go. You didn't even have to think about it that time. The girl who preceded you, Gwen, was a good friend, and I miss her now that she got married and ran off on me. Her leaving left a void in more than Sharon's daily schedule."

Arilee looked like she was about to ask a question, but quickly took a drink and tried to cover it up. Christi could guess what she was about to talk about, but had already decided to take things slowly on that subject with the younger blonde woman.

Mindblind walked into the room at that point. "They've got everything cleaned up. There were dozens of the things inside the Hall, and dozens more out in the town. Only a couple of minor injuries out in the town. Ashtar popped in a minute ago, too."

Christi looked at her lover with obvious disbelief. "Everything is cleaned up?"

"Yeah, we've got to have those ladies come up here to clean every so often. I've never seen anything like it. Kronk and I just had to step back out of the way. It was like watching a busy anthill the way they scurried around. Once they walked out of a room, you couldn't tell there had been anything there."

"It wouldn't hurt, I suppose. We keep a pretty clean place, but we brought everyone on because they have certain skills, and it is a little silly not to use those skills every once in a while."

Cerebus sighed, putting a forefinger and thumb to his temple. "They just hauled in some street rat that tried to take advantage of the chaos to boost some knickknacks — and steal something more precious from some merchant's daughter. I've got to go play judge now."

"Give me a hand getting the dress-up clothes together for Cerebus please, Arilee. I'll show you where they are, because this is likely one place where we'll need you. We have no fashion sense whatsoever, and could care less. We need someone with an eye for good taste to keep us from offending the high and mighty."

The pair soon had Cerebus dressed in a ceremonial robe and wearing his circlet of office. He grumbled, tugged at the robes a bit, and then kissed Christi before proceeding down the stairs.

"He hates this. If it were up to him, they would hurl anybody who tries to rape a woman straight over the edge of the Great Crater and shoot flaming arrows at them on the way down. He has to try to follow Thakkor's lead though, toning down the atrocity common to punishment that this nation has known for so long. He'll need to calm down when he's done, so we'll probably go spar again. After that we'll probably be — indisposed — for a bit." Christi said the last with a mischievous wink.

Arilee laughed and blushed. "I understand."

"Good. Go get settled in your room, then head downstairs and get something to eat. You'll pretty much have the rest of the day to yourself. I'll send for you if we need you, but we should probably be able to get by."