Prince Bonir Vol. 04

Vol. 4: Defense of the Realm

It was a sad day when the messenger arrived to announce that my uncle, the king, had passed away. It was also exciting; I had come to know my cousin very well when I first began my knight's training, and now he would become King Edelbert III. I packed up with my entourage—my sister Elizabeth, my consorts Eve and Arianna, plus six guards and their captain Jauffrey—for at least two weeks stay at the royal palace.

Nobles from across the land were arriving to pay their last respects to the departed king and swear their allegiance at the coronation of Edelbert. The delegation from Arkandia was still lingering in the great hall when we arrived and were announced. As I walked up the long carpet I saw the strain on "Eddy's" face; I knew too well the feeling of being suddenly overwhelmed by responsibilities and people I didn't know. The relief of a familiar face was readily apparent.

I removed my sword, placed it point-down perpendicular to the ground, then knelt behind it as the members of my party knelt behind me. "You highness, the province of Averic swears it's allegiance to his majesty, King Edelbert!" I proclaimed.

"Cousin Bonir," the king replied in a less formal tone, much as I might have done. We were alike in many ways. "It is good to see you again. Come, I shall show you to your rooms myself." This caught the court somewhat by surprise, as he had not done this with the other nobles, but neither had they been like a brother to the king for much of his teen years. Jauffrey and the guards took their leave to set up camp along with the others in the fields surrounding the town; the Royal Guard and the King's Knights held jurisdiction here. He had servants take my sister to her room in the south tower, where the virginity of the unmarried female royalty was closely guarded, while leading me towards the north tower. Eve and Arianna followed me, ten steps behind as demanded by protocol.

"Bonny!" he said once we out of earshot, "it's good to see a familiar face!" He was the only person that I allowed to call me Bonny—but if he wanted to speak to me as a brother, I would as well.

"This is an exciting time, Eddy," I replied—his face did not flinch at my use of his old nickname. He knew that I could be trusted to not err and address him so in public. "But I remember how overwhelming it was when I first became Duke, and you have so many more strangers to meet than I ever did. Really, and I'm not just saying this—anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"Thank you, cousin," he replied, "and I know you mean that. But...I did not know you would be bringing an entourage. I have but a single room set aside for you, and of the rooms of the castle are already assigned ..."

"There is no problem, my lord," I explained, "Eve and Arianna shall share my quarters with me."

Eddy's eyebrow shot up. "Oh? And Eve and Arianna are..."

"My consorts," I interjected. That really took him by surprise. I kidded him "Eddy, Eddy... you're king now! You have power! If you wish to maintain female companionship, who is to tell you that you cannot?" I then explained how Eve and Arianna had initially been accused of witchcraft, but after exonerating them I still could not return them to their home provinces. Bringing them into my household was a good deal for both parties. I told him also of the "Wytch's Hotel," although I did not tell him of the orgy they had thrown in my honor for my last birthday (see Prince Bonir #3: The Roman Orgy). I could see the king mentally taking notes. I knew he was not superstitious, and was intrigued by Averic's novel approach to witchcraft—but nowhere near as much as he was intrigued at the thought of keeping an ingénue for his personal entertainment. "Don't get me wrong, I am quite attached to both Eve and Arianna, but as you know we can only marry a woman of certain station. In our station, however, we are in a position to provide a good life to more than one worthy woman." There was a time rumors abounded of Eddy's "wenching" about the town, something he clearly could no longer do as king. Why he hadn't thought of avoiding scandal by keeping a regular concubine, I did not know.

The second day after our arrival was the formal funeral, and two days after that the coronation. I had a wonderful time the whole time, however, as the three of us were consigned to sharing one bed for the duration. I always tried hard to share myself equally with both, and we soon devised all manner of pleasure games. Reminiscent of my birthday, I would have Eve and Arianna lie naked on the bed, side by side (or occasionally the lighter Arianna stacked on top of Eve), alternating whose loins I would penetrate every time the sand in a small hourglass ran out. But that always left one of them literally out in the cold for a time, so we varied the game so that I would focus the attention of my mouth or hands on one while buried between the thighs of the other. One night the girls played a game whereby they blindfolded me and I had to identify by feel alone whose mouth or genital I was feeling. It was interesting to learn that I never failed to identify a breast or a nipple with my mouth; that I was very accurate at identifying a mouth or tongue with my penis but less so than with my own mouth; and that my penis had great difficulty differentiating one girl's sex from the other. However, my accuracy went way up when my hands or even just the feeling of weight gave me additional information about the body to whom the genital belonged, and again was nearly perfect when using my tongue, which allowed me to identify each girl's unique scent.

Sadly, protocol did not allow me to bring Eve and Arianna with me to the formal coronation, and fealty ceremony or coronation banquet. Eventually I was able to sneak them in to the coronation ball, however. Early on, the unmarried females of royal descent were all on top of their game, being their most charming in the hopes of attracting the eye of one of the few unmarried lords in attendance. Of course all of them had their eyes on the big prize, the King himself. They understood that he almost certainly would have to marry a princess from another land, but this simply drove them to work all the harder to try to get him to fall madly in love with them. It had been centuries since there was a reigning regent without a queen. I emerged as the second choice; although there were plenty of others, I was already the reigning Duke, plus my background with the King's Elite Guard seemed to play in my favor. With every dance I had many more willing partners than I could accommodate.

To gain our attention, some chose the route of bawdiness, acting in ways more becoming of a serving wench than royalty in the hopes of enticing our attention. These, understandably, tended to be lower-ranking ladies, with less chance of marrying up and thus less to lose. Sadly, they succeeding mostly in attracting the drooling attention of older, married lords, entranced by their youth and ignoring the glaring looks of their spouses. Both sides in this game went home with their wild hopes unfulfilled. Others, my sister among them, took the high road and attempted to charm with beauty, wit, and grace. I had to admit that my sister truly shone in this, the arena for which she had been trained since birth. Had she not been my sister I would have said she was quite attractive in her ball gown, and she was both light of foot and skilled of tongue. For a time some of the other ladies were actually working her as an angle to get closer to me, until they realized our relationship was such that her opinion carried little weight with me—except, perhaps, as they related to balls, decorating, or fashion.

The King was torn between weariness of being around all these people and the naturally intoxicating effect of being swarmed by admiring females all turning on the charm on his behalf. The attention merely wearied me, however; I would not marry until such time that there was political advantage to doing so, and the enticement of hinted sex held no sway, as I had brought my own supply with me. I sidled up to the King at one point and whispered some advice; "by all means take a concubine, but know that only a commoner would consider such an arrangement. One with royal blood, even of lower rank, will demand more."

When an opportunity finally presented itself, I snuck out to retrieve Eve and Arianna. The ball had by then degenerated into an increasingly drunken, wild celebration; those who would have been scandalized by my companions had by then either left or would not notice the new additions amidst the revelry. The leftovers and finger foods alone allowed Eve and Arianna to feast like kings, and I danced with them as much as I could to avoid having to dance with overeager would-be duchesses. I reminded my concubines that they were not married to me, and they were free to try their own hands at landing a husband here, but their reaction was quite the opposite. Seeing the near-throng of royal maidens seeking to impress the King or myself as to their marriage-worthiness, they became quite protective of the slice of myself they possessed. I had simply wished to give them the chance to see what a coronation ball was like, but the unintended effect was that both became more appreciative of their special places in my heart. They knew they could never have me to themselves, but they also knew that they were not just easily replaced sex toys to me; I had deep affections for them and had promised to take care of them for as long as they wished it so. Seeing just how much demand there was for my affections, that little slice of my heart suddenly felt that much more valuable. The additional heat was unmistakable in my bedchamber that night.

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The sun had just began peering over the horizon when I was stirred by a knocking at the door. My head ached from the evening's revelry, and I had hoped to sleep it off well into the morning—why was I being roused at first light?

"Duke Bonir!" cried a voice as the door knocked loudly yet again, "the King is holding and emergency council and demands your presence at once!" My first thought was that this might be a prank, but the voice betrayed a concern that was all too real; I jumped out of bed to dress. My knight's training was not as yet entirely forgotten; I was dressed and in the grand hall in less than ten minutes. My arrival made six in the hall: King Edelbert; Vanyon, the new captain of the Elite Guard, whom I had known when I was part of the unit though not well; Duke Ethron of Easton, Lord of the largest and strongest duchy in the realm and my uncle; Count Charon of Eckoss, the northernmost province; a man I did not recognize but wearing the livery of a royal messenger, and myself.

"Ah, Bonir, good that you are here," Edelbert said solemnly. "The others can join as they arrive and we'll fill them in; those that are most important are here. Please relay your message again."

The page nodded and blurted excitedly. "Hail King Edelbert! I bring grave news from Eckoss. The town of Barwick was two days hence attacked and sacked by Vikings. The guard scrambled to the defense, finding the invaders had already fled, but not before killing scores of men, women and children and burning the village to the ground. A few villagers are missing and presumed dead or captured. Of all of the residents of the town there was but one survivor—a poor wench that was run through with a sword and left for dead, yet miraculously survived."

This was grave news indeed. An attack by Vikings was not totally unexpected; for generations Norsemen would stage hit-and-run raids of all the maritime nations. Ferocity of the level described of the attack on Barwick was uncommon and unfortunate, but not unprecedented. No, the troubling thing was that Barwick was on the

western

coast. In general the north and east of the realm were closer to Scandinavia, and far more likely targets of an attack than Barwick. True, those towns were also at a much greater state of preparedness as a result, but to sail three extra days each way to reach a less-defended town seemed strange. Instead, it suggested that the Vikings had a new base of operations of which we knew not. If so, then for the first time the western coast might be at constant risk—and was grossly unprepared.

"I do not doubt that you all recognize the danger in this news," King Edelbert addressed us. "Avenging the destruction of Barwick is one thing. The return of Viking invasions after fifteen years peace is troubling alone, but if the Vikings are now attacking the west, either they have changed their tactics or they have a new base of operations somewhere closer to our western shores. How are we to respond?"

By now many of the other Dukes and Counts had arrived. Those whose lands were safely landlocked advocated a counterattack, until Vanyon reminded them that we didn't know where they had launched their attack from. Count Charon rightly reminded the court that his northern lands remained the most likely target, and indeed Barwick was still part of Eckoss. "But we must prepare the coastal towns of the west for possible attack," I added.

"Agreed, Duke Bonir. Here is how we shall proceed," King Edelbert commanded. It seemed he had known all along how he would respond, but had wisely allowed the nobles to present a better idea if they had one. They did not, so he proceeded as planned. "Count Charon... return at once to your castle and review the adequacy of your army and the defenses of your towns. Vanyon... you shall accompany Count Charon and set up camp in Eckoss. This will place you closer to the likely site of the next attack, and perhaps we can intercept the invaders next time. Duke Bonir..." I snapped to attention. "I am putting you in charge of organizing the defense of the western provinces. As you all know, the Prince was trained in the royal guard under the tutelage of the great Sir Langdon himself. My dear cousin, I need you to organize the provinces of the west to work together in an organized defense of the realm. I cannot spare my own troops, but nor do I expect the guard of Averic to defend the entire western border. Rather, I am giving you authority to direct the defense of all of the western provinces. In this, I will require the cooperation of all of the Lords of these lands. Each shall entrust half of his guard to the defense of the coast, under the command of Prince Bonir. You shall retain full authority over all matters of your lands, including command of the guard so long as it does not interfere with the Prince's defense plans. If any lord undermines the Prince's defenses, he shall answer to me. If the local lord feels that the Prince has overstepped his bounds, then you shall tell that of me, and I shall handle it. Is that understood?"

There was a grudging assent among the assembled nobles. It was unprecedented outside of wartime to usurp the absolute authority of a lord over his lands in this fashion, but at the same time, all would admit that I was the most experienced (despite my age) and best suited for the task at hand. Whether I could orchestrate the defense without being seen as interfering would go a long way to determining my success. Indeed, this was the first bold action of the new king, and the success of his own reign could be set in large part by how well I could execute his commands. For both of our sakes, it was vital that I find a way to succeed.

Eve and Arianna were up and dressed when I returned, sitting somberly, having heard that grave news was afoot. There was a grand feast scheduled for mid-day to be followed by a tournament, but I would not be staying long enough to see either. I invited them to stay, but if I was leaving, they wished to depart as well, even though we were not going the same way. I ordered breakfast for four; it was almost entirely cold before Jauffrey had made his way to my chamber in response to my summons. I filled him in on our new role as defenders of the west, then laid out the plan. Two of the guards would escort Eve and Arianna back to Averic, then begin organizing the building of shore defenses at home. Jauffrey would go with two guards to Merseinne, and begin organizing defenses and communications with Averic there. And I would head with the final two guards to Eckoss to speak in person to the lone survivor of Barwick.

Breakfast finished, I wanted to go with Jauffrey right out to our encampment and start out—but Eve and Arianna begged me to hold. It would be many days at the earliest before they saw me again—at worst, they'd never see me again. They knew there wasn't time to make love to me proper, but they gladly took turns caressing my penis lovingly while the other entertained my mouth with her breasts. In short order I was ejaculating down Arianna's receptive throat while gently pinching Eve's nipple between my teeth. The brief time out for pleasure was greatly appreciated, but there was no further time to dawdle. I soul kissed each of them as I left—the times had suddenly become much more dangerous, and the eventually of seeing someone again could no longer be taken for granted.

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Two days later we were in the town outside the Count's castle, Schloss Eckoss, so named over a century ago by a Germanic countess who could not resist the multi-lingual alliteration. We needed to ask directions three times before we found the home of the nurse where Juriel, the lone survivor of Barwick, was fighting for her life. Somehow fittingly, the sky had poured buckets upon us all the day long. The elderly nurse did not want us to speak to her as she was so weak, but we told her we needed to learn all we could from her so as to prevent it from happening again. She let us in on the condition that we not touch the frail girl in any way.

The blinds were drawn and the room dark when we entered; Juriel was resting, eyes closed but not asleep, shallow breath barely enough to keep her alive. Her entire torso was heavily bandaged in white cloth; and angry red stain right in the middle belied where she had been run through with a sword that somehow managed to miss her vital organs. It must have pained greatly even to draw breath.

The nurse raised one blind halfway, but with the gray rainy sky it was still very dim. Juriel stirred slightly, drew in her already shallow breath in pain, and stopped trying to move. "Juriel," she said, "you have a visitor."

"Hmmm?" she moaned.

"Prince Bonir, Duke of Averic, is here to see you."

"Prince...Bonir? Of Averic?" She tried to straighten up and blinked, but having not opened her eyes in days even the dim light was too intense.

I sat on the edge of her bed, wanting to pat her hand or something but mindful of my promise to the nurse. "Please, do not stir, dear lady," I said, "you have been through so much..."

"You...Prince Bonir..." she replied, eyes closed but now facing in my direction as she could feel my fully armored weight pulling down on the bed, "I want to thank you...my cousin...she was wrongly accused...you saved her..." Apparently she was related to one of the "witches" that lived in exile under my protection in Averic.

"Shhh," I said. She was reaching painfully towards me with one hand; I removed a gauntlet and intercepted it in spite of my promise, just so she wouldn't hurt herself further trying to find me. The nurse made no objection. "Yes, we treat witches differently in Averic, but you do not need to thank me, we treat all accused of witchcraft the same. I need to know what you can tell me about what happened."

"The town...my family...all my friends...gone..." her lips curled downwards and tears were imminent—and crying certainly would be excruciating with the gaping wound in her abdomen, and could start her in to bleeding anew.