Day Off For Three

"I have. Like our friend, Karyn, she is stunning to look at, and generous to others. Both are exiled princesses and holy warriors. Karyn's father was emperor of Sharla, far beyond the northern seas. Elaura's father was king of Melco, the city to the north of us."

"Where the pirates come from?"

He ground against her, and she gave a low sigh.

"Yes. Elaura's mother escaped with her to the west. Soon, all their allies and kinsmen were slain or driven out by the northern corsairs. Elaura's mother made her promise not to try and take back the city. So she settled in Caloren. Her soldiers love her, just as ours love you." He ground again, longer. She ground back, holding her breath.

He took her hand in his as he moved inside her. Lifted it, kissed the palm, the fingertips. "As for children, you won't be alone. I will be here, and so will Susan. We are here to share the duties and joys. Besides, I saw how you were with the children of the guards. You treated them with respect and consideration. You will be an excellent mother."

"Sounds like you .. want me to have a baby. Ohhh, that's good. Oh! Mmmmmmm."

"I do. But Susan is right. Ultimately, it's your choice. You are the woman. The child grows inside you, and you bear the pain of birth. The child will grow from your milk. You decide, if and when. Charlotte Ann, if you decide no, I will still love you. I just need to know so I can pull out."

"It's getting hard .. to think with you .. moving .. stretching me .. so big. Ah. Oh, my .. I won't .. I won't use .. birth control. The fertility spell .. is in place .. "

"It's not," he told her.

"What? But I .. quit moving, Royce." She took a long breath, propping up on her elbows. "What do you mean, it's not in place?"

"It had a very strange effect on you. You begged and wept until I entered you. You passed out with me inside you, and you wouldn't let me go. You kept jerking, as if you were coming over and over, and it wasn't ending but burning you out. It scared me. Susan, too. I told her to end the spell, and because you were restless, she used restful sleep on you as well."

She looked him, emotions running across her face.

"We were afraid for you," he explained, trying to reassure her. "I know you asked for the spell, but it wasn't until it ended and you slept it off, that you became yourself again. The spell's main effect is still with you. You are on your fertile period now. Don't be mad at Susan. I told her to do it."

"I did sleep well. First time in weeks," she admitted. Her eyes suddenly warmed. "You're protecting her. I love you for that. And forgive you." She lay back down, pressing her hips against him. "All right, Royce. I'm ready. Give it to me. Hard and fast."

He kissed her and began moving. His strokes lengthened, almost coming out and slamming down into her.

She grinned, dark blue eyes sparkling, letting herself enjoy the friction of his moving inside her. She lifted her legs, holding them apart with her own hands, grunting under his vigorous thrusting. Harder and harder, Royce pounded into her pussy. She felt like she was being split apart. Charlotte Ann felt her belly tighten. "Whoaaaa. Hah, ohhhhhhh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhhhh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhhhh."

"Come for me," he huffed. "Come! Come! Come!"

She drew in like a tight spring, then arched and bucked under him.

"Yes!" he cried. "Yes!" Slowing his pace, he ground tight with each thrust, pressing against her clit. Then he grunted and bucked in return, shoving hard into her.

The first hot pulse of semen made her jump, then she drew him down, wanting to feel the weight of him on her body, pressing her down. Her legs clamped around him. "Oh, yes! Give it to me. Love me. Love me."

Using his elbows to keep his main weight off so she could breathe, he nuzzled her face. Spasms faded. "I do love you, Charlotte Ann. I do."

"I know, Royce." Running her hand through his hair, she kissed him, joyous and amazed. "You really are my beloved."

They lay there for several minutes, enjoying the afterglow and the intimacy of their continued union.

As she relaxed her grip, he slowly pulled out.

"You're not going to do me again?"

Her obvious disappointment warmed his heart, and he laughed. "Oh, my. Keep telling me that, wife! That's what I like to hear. There's nothing I'd rather do right now. However, you have people showing up soon, and we need to get cleaned up."

"You told me last night you wanted to make love to me a lot more often. I will try to make that happen." She glanced down between her legs. "God, it still feels like you are inside me."

Royce helped her sit up, then went to a side table holding a pitcher and basin. "Water's frozen," he said. He muttered a simple cantrip, and the water warmed and melted in seconds. He searched the storage drawer that had held the blanket, and found some towels and washclothes. Soaking a washcloth, he also brought her a clean towel. He sat in the chair, watching her clean herself, semen still dribbling from her swollen pussy.

"Every time I wipe, more comes out," she accused. The severity of her tone was spoiled by the merry glint in her eyes.

"You did say to give it to you."

She wiped again at the semen dribbling out of her sex. "You're enjoying this, aren't you."

"I am." Royce grinned at her.

She stuck out her tongue at him. "Be useful. There's a bottle of perfume in the top drawer. Lavender. I usually don't wear it, but I'm sure we've made a strong smell in here."

Royce got her the bottle. "I thought I was quite useful already."

She wiped herself one last time, rubbed the flap clean, and dosed it with perfume.

"Whoa!" he said. "You'll knock them dead. Here, let me." He concentrated, then uttered the simple cantrips of clean and refresh. The powerful flower scent began to fade. "You really should try to learn those. They do have their uses."

"When I get time," she said. Buttons in place, she re-adjusted her belt, retrieved her sword and buckled it on. "I prefer useful magic like scatter the trail or make camp instead."

Royce used the clean and refresh cantrips on himself, then attended his own clothing. "Cantrips are magic, too. And they are useful. Just weaker spells." He got the last button in place when a knock came at the door.

Charlotte Ann answered it.

Lieutenant Mason waited on the landing. Behind him was another soldier, muddy and worn from hard travel, in the green and gold livery of Little Pine Hill, a large settlement in the hills more than three days travel northwest of Ramez.

She addressed Mason first. "Come in. Report ready?"

"Yes, Lady. I have it here. However, this rider has urgent news. You should hear him first."

Raising her eyebrows, she stepped aside to let them in, then closed the door to keep the heat in. Royce had been right. In a short time, her office was measurably warmer. She nodded to the messenger. "We welcome you. I'm afraid we have little refreshment in this room. I don't normally eat here. However, I'm sure we can find some food and drink downstairs or in the manor. What is your message?"

The soldier bowed his head. "Lady, our town is under siege. More than fifty frost giants and three ice dragons. We ask for your assistance."

Suddenly alert, she said, "It's a long way back to Little Pine Hill. Thirty-six hours if we force march. Probably closer to forty-eight in this weather. A lot can happen in that time."

"Will you come to our aid, Lady?" the soldier asked.

Royce moved beside his wife. "We honor our commitments," he answered. "However, the Lord Marshal has a very good point. And, we wonder whether some are on their way here. We're shy on mages here. I think I should converse with my father." He went back to her chair and sat down behind the desk, steepling his hands in his lap.

Charlotte Ann turned to the messenger from Little Pine Hill. "Go to the manor house, and find the kitchen. Get some hot food and drink. We'll have something to tell you within the hour."

He saluted and left. She turned to Mason. "Report?"

The Lieutenant looked at his notepad. "Eleven Household Guards and forty-seven army down, Lady. Eight are off-site at their homes. Sixteen are in the northeast barracks. The rest are in the barracks across town."

Charlotte Ann swore. "That's fifty-eight people! That include the two the Duke cured earlier?"

"I took them off the list, Lady."

She turned to Royce to speak, then saw he had a far-away look. He was still using his mental powers. "Mason, the others across town, are they together or isolated? And are they away from healthy troops?"

"I'm not sure, Lady."

"It'll be dark soon. Get some wagons together, plenty of blankets. Bundle them up against the cold and bring them back here. Also, get all those off-site as well. That many people sick, it could easily spread throughout the city. An epidemic we don't want. Especially in winter. Make room in the second level if you need to. Northeast tower is now a hospital. Move those healthy in the northeast tower to here. Move the supplies to wherever you can find the room. Once the Duchess is back, she will begin checking them over. We need to know which of the sick are contagious and which are not."

"Off-duty personnel for this?"

Charlotte Ann nodded. Then she noticed her officer was sweating. It was warmer in the room than before, but now only barely comfortable. "Except for Cartwright and Barber. They are healthy, but are still weak. They could turn around and get sick again. They stay indoors until morning."

Royce stood. "I did some remote viewing. There's a column headed toward us. They just crossed into our valley about an hour ago. At the rate they're moving, they'll reach Ramez in about seven hours. A score of frost giants, and one ice dragon."

"Mason, go do what I told you. Send someone for Captain Stillman. I want to see him right away."

"I'm fit, my Lady. A sergeant could do this just as well."

She reached up and gently touched his hairline. "When did you start sweating, Lieutenant?"

"Just now. It's nothing, Marshal."

"Give the job to Sergeant Wright. She will do what you were supposed to do. You go to the northeast tower. Take your gear with you. Supervise clearing out the armory and supplies from the second level to make room. Work as long as you are able. Have a couple braziers brought in and get both rooms warm. Then check in. I won't send sick men out to fight. They'll just get killed."

Mason stared, his eyes pleading.

"You have your orders, Lieutenant. Carry on."

"Lord Marshal," he breathed, saluting. Then he departed.

Charlotte Ann turned to Royce. "Twenty giants! And a fucking dragon!"

"I can't say for sure, but you're probably right. It probably does fuck. I'm going to talk to my father now. You want to link with me?"

Link her thoughts to someone else? She shivered, shaking her head. "No. I'll look at the map. See if I get any ideas. Let me know when you are done."

Royce saw her reaction and said nothing, sitting back into her chair.

He was quiet for a long time. At least, it seemed that way to Charlotte Ann.

The situation seemed dire enough. Almost fifty regular cavalry and horse archers were on long range patrol. She judged they should be along the north coast about now. Too far away. With almost sixty troops sick, that left just over two hundred in town to defend. Fifty horse, fifty archers, and a hundred light infantry. And another two hundred militia with pike and halberd.

The giants were bad enough. Last summer's attack by the three forest dragons had killed over a hundred soldiers, and almost twice that many militia. As much as her husband's prowess had turned her on, that was a day filled with grief and sorrow. Susan could raise the dead, but the magic was demanding. Her sister could try to bring back up to nine, at the rate of one per day. No else had the power. For hours Susan had prayed. Blindfolded and led among the rows of slain, Susan picked them out. Charlotte Ann still remembered those brought back. A teenaged boy who ran errands. A carpenter in the militia. An apprentice healer. Bertold Freeman, master bowman. Jessop Tanner, a sergeant of the horse. Mikel Dawnslight, a private of the infantry. Tali and Arionna Skywind, twins and warriors, not even laid out near each other. Tia Jaima Clouddancer, wife of the Clouddancer clan chief, but her husband was not selected. Three members of her personal staff died that day, killed by the dragons' poisonous gas. She remembered them, too, and missed them.

It took days for the funeral pyres to burn. The ashes were scattered among the hills where they were slain as Susan said the prayers to lay their souls to ease. Without anything official, Brierson Ridge became Battle Ridge.

Charlotte Ann turned her eyes and her attention back to the map. If they followed the river down the valley, she thought, it narrowed at Tolkan Falls. With less room to maneuver, the giants would be at a disadvantage, and her men could concentrate their archers on fewer targets. Destroy them in detail. To make sure the attack did as much damage as quickly as possible, she would take all the archers they had, with a few tough guardsmen with polearms in front to keep the giants from overrunning them. Another group to bottle them up from the rear, probably more infantry with polearms. Ballistae would be better, but they only had four and the large weapons weren't portable. The giants might be able to scale the steep embankments, but with luck, they could take out half the number of giants with minimal losses. She recalled that frost giants enslaved ice dragons with great chains. If so, it meant the dragon would have its fierce breath, but it would not be airborne, an important handicap.

His hand on her shoulder almost stopped her heart. She whirled.

"I didn't mean to startle you."

"I was making preliminary plans," she said. "What did you find out? Will your parents send a mage to help us?"

"First, tell me what you thought out."

Charlotte Ann quickly sketched out her idea, pointing on the map where she would put people.

Royce nodded thoughtfully. "Good plan. We actually have several volunteers coming. I don't anticipate we'll take more than a handful of our own soldiers. Father thought this enough of a threat to us that he that he asked for some help. All three of my parents are coming as is your father. There's--"

"Father's coming here?"

"Yes, he and ... Darling, you're pale. Is there something between you and your father I should know about? You haven't fought, have you?"

Turning away, she shook her head. "No. It's nothing."

"You haven't seen him in more than half a year. Not since you and Susan went for a visit for the holidays during last Summer Solstice. I thought you'd had a good time."

"We did. A grand time," she assured him, but her voice did not convince him. "I--I don't .. He .. It's so trivial but ... but it's not trivial to me."

"Tell me," he said quietly.

"He said he wanted to visit, to see how we were set up here."

Royce shrugged. "So? It's not like we have something to hide. I'm married to two of his beautiful daughters. Maybe he just wants to make sure you are happy."

Charlotte Ann shook her head. "No. Yes. Maybe that, too. He did ask questions, and we assured him we loved it here. One of our guards called me Lord Marshal, and he asked me about it. A lot. Like why I wasn't called Lady or Excellency? 'A Duchess outranks Lord Marshal,' he told me. Then asked why would I take a step down in rank? But I don't see it that way. I love it here, my life with you and my sister. But I also love the outdoors. Sometimes the walls feel like they are closing in, and if I don't get outside and into the free air, I think I'll just die."

He caressed her face. "You are a wildcat, aren't you? You are only tamed and here because you love Susan."

"The seashore, the mountains, the forests, the plains -- we have it all in easy reach. Being here is not just for Susan. Not anymore. As God is my witness, Royce, I love you. I honestly do. When you told that to me last night, I realized how much I loved you in return. I never thought that would happen. I've always liked you well enough. I mean we had our fights as kids, and I admire your skill in the woods. You're an attentive lover, and treat me with kindness and respect. Now, though." She took a breath. "It was probably the spell, but I never felt such sweet agony before. The ache in my belly for your cock was almost unbearable. I know what lust is. Now I yearn for you, Royce. I love being in your arms, the feel of your strength holding me against you. It makes me glad you are my husband."

Royce kissed her gently, then with more ardor. She closed her eyes, leaning up to return his kiss, her mouth hungry for the taste of him.

When they came up for air, he hugged her tight. "You haven't told me yet what's between you and your father."

Charlotte Ann sighed. "You're right. You know, of course, that my father serves your family as their Lord Marshal. I think he wanted Thorband to follow in his footsteps. Of course, he's immensely proud that Thorband was made a duke, with a city of his own to rule. I love my father. I'm proud to be his daughter, but I fear I will always be his little girl before anything else."

"You're a grown woman, Charlotte Ann. Most deliciously so." He ran his hands through her thick, dark, curly hair. He loved the feel of it. "What's your point?"

"I'm afraid, Royce. It terrifies me that he will see what I have done here and find my skills and abilities wanting. I think he'd prefer I'd be happy as Duchess and not as your Lord Marshal, out in the field of battle, waging war on those who would do us harm."

"You keep us from harm quite well, by the way. For the record, I don't think your feelings are trivial. Because you feel them, they are yours, and that makes them important. I'm glad you told me. It may hurt if he does find you wanting, my dear." He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "Your father is entitled to his opinions, but they will have no bearing on your situation here. You are Lord Marshal as long as you want it and that's final. If your father has issue with it, he will have to deal with me. Would you like me to speak with him?"

"I'd rather face the giants and the dragon alone," she muttered. "No. Don't worry about it. I will deal with my father."

"Charlotte Ann, I remind you there are only two people you have to answer to. You and me. You, for your own self respect. Me, because I'm the Duke, and ultimately responsible for everyone's safety."

"Yes, my Lord."

He shook head, frowning. "Don't. Especially when we're alone. We are equals. Leave formality for formal occasions. My name or an endearment between us. Please."

"Even if I choose to call you my Lord? Am I not your Lady?"

"You are. But we are equals. You and Susan are my partners."

"Even if there's a part of me that wants you to be my lord?"

Royce took a deep breath, staring.

She smiled, caressing his cheek. "I'm a decent warrior, if I do say so myself. I don't know if it's the after effects of the fertility spell or what, but right now, if I could manage it, I'd happily bend over, have you mount me, and walk around carrying you on my back, your hard dick in my pussy, creaming me every so often throughout the day with your come."

"Now there's a mental image." Surprised, he grinned in pure delight.

"So it is. It's how I feel. How much I want you. It doesn't bother me to call you Lord. I say it as a willing act of submission."

His eyes searched hers. "I have people call me Lord all the time. It's a line of separation. Talking with you as my partner is as important as the time when we join our bodies together. I need both from you. You talking to me, me talking to you. It has been all too rare between us since the beginning."