Ch. 05 - the Lyndaelin Moon

What a waste of an evening, Doe thought, as nine church bells tolled in the twilight. Elinor must've been called back to Lanara, she supposed, or wherever it was he was going. He'd never been late.

She beat her bedsheets in frustration. She could've done something useful with herself. She could have gone down to the markets, or had a stroll in the gardens all to herself. Did Elinor's stand-in know what time he was expected? Perhaps they'd simply forgot to pass on the message that someone was supposed to come up to her tower, and fuck her. But surely at this time there was no one coming. Maybe she would go for a wander. It was rare almost beyond memory that she had a night to herself.

She had just made up her mind to throw on some clothes when a familiar knock came from the door, and she threw her hat down in anger. She'd laid practically naked for hours, of course he'd turn up just as she'd decided to get dressed.

"What?" she called to the door.

"Now, that's no way to greet a knight," came Elinor's voice.

"And turning up at this hour is no way to treat a princess!"

"I've got a surprise for you."

"I'm not doing it. You've missed your chance. I put up with this charade every night. I'm not going to wait for hours so you can have your way with me at your convenience!"

"My Lady," came words which were cautious now. "I fear you may not have misunderstood the nature of the surprise. For it is not of... of that sort of nature. And there is a very good reason why I have come at this precise time."

Doe scrutinized the door, before finally relenting and lifting the latch. Elinor stood there, but he wasn't in his armour, or leathers, or anything she'd seen him in before.

"You're dressed in... in proper clothes," she frowned. "Proper, normal people clothes."

"And your dressed," he said with an equal air of surprise.

"I was hoping to take advantage of your absence. This surprise better be worth my while."

"Well as it happens, I'm glad you're dressed. I'm taking you out."

"What?" Doe asked bluntly.

"I thought tonight I'd take you out to see some of the sights of the city. It's such a beautiful place in the evening."

"What are you up to?" Doe narrowed her eyes. "You've never offered to take me out before. And it's my city! I know what it looks like. You know I know that."

"Well, if you're on your way out anyway, perhaps I'll just... escort you on your way. I am a knight, after all. And the city can be a dangerous place for lone women. It's my duty to-"

"Where do you want to take me?" she said irritably, snatching up a shawl with such vigour that Elinor took a step back.

"The Moonwood. It's a lovely evening for it. You, yourself, offer some splendid views, Doe, but I thought it'd be a shame to waste such a night inside."

"You want to fuck me in the forest, is that it? One of your fetishes? When I said 'where do you want to take me?' I didn't mean take me, as in, take me."

"You also didn't say you'd be against it."

"I shall accompany you for a walk, Sir Elinor. Whether you get a shag out of it depends on how you make your lateness up to me."

And so Doe followed him down the long and spiralling staircase. She garnered some raised eyebrows when they reached the courtyard as the last of the court-goers left their posts, but no one stopped them. More eyes came their way when they reached the highstreet, and people pointed and whispered as they passed the smiths, fletchers, bakers, coppers, and all the other businesses that worked the roadside.

Eventually they neared the battlements, and the great stone gate at the city's edge. Elinor nodded shortly at the guards, and they nodded back, letting them through. For all her resistance, it was rare Doe ventured out of the city. As a princess, she could not just wander off.

They made their way down the Skerryness way, the great track that led up to the city. The sun was now down, and the sky had faded from pink to blue. Above the treetops, the crescent moon began to peak.

"You know," Elinor said softly, "there's a name for the moon on this night. It is said, long ago, that the moon was vanished by a wicked sorcerer. After a year beneath the blackest of nights, the Faerie Court gathered to rid the world of the evil magic, and return the moon to its rightful place. On the first night of the fifth month Lyndaelin, the Queen of the Faeries, defeated the wizard and cast away all of his magic. For the first time in a year, the sky was illuminated by the crescent, and the staff of the wizard was banished to be guarded by the moon forever onwards."

"Rubbish," Doe scoffed. "You should know I'm too old for bedtime stories. And who thought up such a pathetic villain in the first place? Why on earth would a sorcerer wish to banish the moon? Rain fire on a crop field, yes. Rip the foundations from beneath castles, yes. But banishing the moon? To what end, Sir Elinor?"

"Maybe there doesn't have to be an end for stories to put children to sleep. But when the Lyndaelin Moon appears, as it will tonight, if one knows where to look they might just catch a glimpse of the faeries paying homage to their ancient queen."

"Everyone knows you don't just spot faeries. Even if you go all the way into the Amlyn Deeps, they're impossible to lure out."

"Tonight they might just be a little braver. It is their night, after all. Of all nights."

And as they strode, the Lydaelin Moon did rise. And whether reflection, astronomical phenomenon, or the real staff of an evil wizard, a line was struck through the two tips of the crescent like the binding of a harp, as though a shooting star had fallen and left its imprint against the sky. Doe had seen it before, every year, in fact, the lance overlaying the waxing moon. But that didn't make it any less beautiful.

"So tell me, my lady... how much effort did you take into getting dressed before I showed up?"

"Why? Am I not glamourous enough for you? Well, sorry, I left my pearl earrings on the dresser."

"I was suggesting that, in order for me to make my lateness up to you, you might be somewhat overdressed."

"I still have my thong on, if that's what you're getting at. But I see no reason yet why you've earned that."

"For all your lessons, Doe, I can't remember the last time I took you on a romantic evening. The trees, the moon, the twilight magic. I've even brought a flask of vintage Avicol, from Cavandare. I rather thought wine from Fort Dongannon might... still be sour to the memory."

"Sir Elinor, you know as well as I that I am too young to drink."

"And I also know as well as you that you are no stranger to a fine red, whether you're allowed it or not."

A pause. "May I have some?"

Elinor handed her the skin.

And soon after, he led her onto a smaller path, and it led into the dark woods the moon had risen above. And though night was yet to truly arrive in the clear, open air, beyond the first banks of trees of the Moonwood, darkness had truly set.

"Elinor, are you sure we ought to be in here this late?"

"Your mother keeps her forests very well kept."

"Is that a euphemism?" she scowled.

"Not at all. You are correct that there are things to be cautious of in the deeper realms of the wood, but we are not going that far. I have my sword should we run into unsavoury business, but by my reckoning we're the only ones in this forest."

As he ushered her, his hand moved from her shoulders to her lower back, and then even lower, and he stroked her behind as they went. And despite her earlier protestations, Doe wished he'd stroke a little harder.

There was a serenity to the forest, a stillness, a silence, that only the lightest summer breeze disturbed. And such was the moment, Doe kept any comments or questions back, for she didn't wish to disturb the hush. The track led them through the trees, the great reaching oaks and elms, and the bushes and saplings that glimmered as they passed. Eventually, the canopy was broken, and they entered upon a dusk-laid clearing.

"This is the Moonwatch Clear," Elinor whispered.

And above, celestial sword laid upon the luna crescent, was the Lyndaelin Moon, and it illuminated the grove in a light silver and magical. And as Doe's eyes became accustomed to the gleam, she began to notice that the shrubs and plants, the vines the wound around the edge of the clearing, were silver also, as though their leaves and petals caught and reflected the mooncast glow.

And now Elinor did something he did not often do. He spun her round, and pulled her in for a kiss. A long, and slow kiss. And as he did, his hands found her hair, and gently grasped it. The moonlight fell down upon the two of them, silhouetted and silver in the clearing, alone in the silence of the forest. And it was a moment Doe wished would never end.

But end it did, when she felt, against her midriff, something rise in the trousers of her company, and suddenly she wanted it more than she ever had done. Without relinquishing the kiss, she slowly slid a hand down and cupped his trousers. And he, in turn, moved both hands down her back, where they rested on her behind.

With her free hand on his back, Doe pulled him in, and their faces were pressed together. Elinor squeezed, and quickly gathered up the fabric of her dress so he could slip his hands over her naked skin, taking handfuls. Doe felt the night air on her exposed undercarriage as his hands spread her open, and she gasped over Elinor's lips.

After a frantic second of amorous staggering, Doe found her back against a tree as she was pressed against it. Their faces broke apart, and Doe looked up to the knight. Her big, brown eyes implored him to carry on. But then she felt a hand slip down the back of her thigh, and under her, and as it came up she shuddered as it touched her. And with both hands now on his face and head, she pulled him in for another deep and vicious kiss.

After a passionate moment that might have been a lot longer, he broke his lips only an inch from hers, and he whispered to her. "If you let my head go, I can show you what else I can do with it," She nodded, panting, as he continued to caress her most sensitive parts.

Stopping only for a second to appraise he breasts, Elinor dropped in to kneeling position. Doe hoisted up her dress for him, revealing her trim turquoise lingerie, the strap of which had been dislodged already. Hands on her hips, he lent in and kissed her belly button. Then her stomach. Then lower, until he reached her waistline.

But just as moved, and breathed against the fabric, he went lower, and taking a leg in both arms started on her thigh, licking and kissing first the outside, then the inside, as he made his way up. With one hand she caressed his hair, with the other her breast.

He stopped kissing her at the top of her thigh, his face mere inches from where she wanted it to be. He could smell her aroma through the fabric, and even Elinor, the disciplined knight of the real he was, couldn't hold himself back anymore. He grasps both buttocks and pulled her waist in close, burying his mouth in the small triangle of silk. He felt her recoil and tense at the same time, and she held the back of his head close to her. He found her slit through the silk and ran his tongue around the top of it, searching for the spot. And sure enough, Doe let out a quick moan. And slowly, using his tongue, and then his hands, he drew back the material and planted his mouth on her naked lips. And she sighed deeply.

She held his head in place as he continued to run his tongue through her folds. Back and forth, sometimes pausing at her opening, sometimes massaging her clit. It was this that made her want him more than ever, as she pushed herself back against his flesh.

"Have I made up for my lateness, yet?" He said, pausing quickly to pull down her panties.

"Yes, yes!" she gasped. "Keep going!"

But it wasn't long before her thighs tensed and began to quiver. His tongue found her clit once more, and he flicked it until he heard her voice reach a tone from climax. He stood and reached down, planting two fingers around, then inside, her opening, whilst his thumb continued to do the job his tongue had just relinquished. And only seconds later, he felt the rush of liquid over his fingers, heard the trickle of her squirting over the grass. She gripped him for support, and Elinor pulled her into an embrace as she recovered herself. Eventually, her breathing normalised, and she stood with her own weight.

"That was... that was better than... I've ever had it before," she managed.

"Well your sheets must be so expensive," he said, still whispering in the stillness. "I don't think it necessary to ruin them on a regular basis."

She reached down and felt his crotch. She knew how firm it would be by now, but she wanted to feel it.

"Oh, Sir Elinor, you can't keep hiding that away."

"You can do that in a second. Aren't you forgetting the reason I brought you here?"

"How am I supposed to think of anything after that?"

"Look," he said lowly.

And Doe looked. And suddenly, with the Lyndaelin Moon now high above the clearing, there was a life around the forest that had not been there before. For as the lancing moon dropped silver shadows upon the midnight glade, golden lamps now appeared to dot the treeline, tiny amber pricks against the distant hedgerows.

"Are they..."

"The faeries come for the moon, but they are tempted further by... um... a certain dance."

"And does that dance involve you taking your trousers off, my Lord?"

"It might well do."

Without allowing him a moment to interrupt, she knelt down and unbuckled his belt. She pulled down his breeches, and then his pants, and he barely had chance to kick them off before his rigid member was in her hands, and then her mouth. He gasped as she rolled her tongue over the head. But she hadn't so much as wrapped her head halfway down the shaft when Elinor withdrew.

He helped her off with her dress so that they both stood completely naked, the moon reflecting off his toned skin, his muscles held in shadow. He led her by the hand into the clearing, where he lay her down and snuggled in beside her.

Together they lay, the grass against their naked sides. The moon bathed them in silver, and Elinor's arm came around to secure her stomach. And then Doe felt his glistening tip against her behind. She wiggled herself against his midriff. She lifted one leg ready. She needed him to push inside.

He moved his arm to support her lifted leg, and guided himself between her legs. She felt his shaft touch her, and rub its way along her, stroking without penetrating, and so tantalising was the sensation that she seized her breast, and gently squeezed it.

And then, as he pulled back, and she felt the tip over her opening, she felt him push inwards. She manoeuvred her hips as he pushed against her, and the wetness of the both of them allowed the tip to pervade her lips. And he didn't stop there, as she was used to. Elinor had a way of easing himself in with each stroke, but to Doe's delight he pushed slowly, and continuously, and he felt him fill her as she engulfed his cock.

She let out a long gasp as she felt him draw inside her, and soon felt his pelvis against her ass as he endeavoured to smother every last inch into her. Doe gripped the grass, which she wished wouldn't tear off so easily. She seized a great clump of weeds by her head as Elinor pushed back in for a second time. She looked up at the moon, and the moon looked back, as she began to pant from the action.

And the clearing was now aglow, as though surrounded by a golden halo as the faeries in the reeds and the rushes poked out their glimmering heads to watch the show they put on. Whether for entertainment magical and intimate, or for their own gratification, Doe didn't know, and in that moment, didn't care.

Elinor gripped her tightly he continued. He slipped his free hand beneath her neck, where it then reached up to clasp her breast and, impossibly, she felt him tense even more inside her as his fingers curled around the flesh. He released her lifted leg, and manoeuvred her so both knees were tucked up to her stomach. And there he pulled her knees in tight, squeezing her into him like a well-endowed constrictor serpent. And as he pumped, he kissed her side, her ribs, her neck.

Doe's panting picked up, overwhelmed by the thrusting. She felt herself tensing. No longer caring about the stillness of the glade, she let out moans low and loud, and Elinor obliged by picking up the pace even more. She quivered and cried out, and to her greatest relief Elinor kept going, kept pounding at her as she endured her climax, as she woke the forest in her pleasure. And only when the moans had quieted and relaxed did he slow, and remove himself from her, and she was glad beyond conscious thought when she felt his sticky strands rain down upon her torso, and thick and many they landed on her.

The two of them lay there on their back, panting, Elinor's arm still wrapped around Doe's neck. Eventually, she rolled over onto him, and he wrapped his arms around her back, and she kissed him deeply.

"You taste like me," she whispered so softly that Elinor could barely hear.

"Wait, look," he said.

He released her, and she saw them come forth. At first only a couple, and them more, as though released by an invisible net. The amber specs that had held their presence by in the bushes drifted forward as if to congratulate them, relinquishing their shaded sanctuaries. And around they swarmed, an inch or two tall, their miniscule bodies beautiful and intricate, their wings pulsating. And with effortless grace the faeries danced.

He looked at her, and Doe smiled in a daze of half-sleep. Elinor gently raised his hand to show her a faerie resting upon, her tiny slender figure, her petite bare breasts, her green dress of fallen leaf.

She gazed at it for a second, then raised her own hand. The faerie seemed to look from one to the other, then spread her wings and floated down onto Alra's finger, and the two of them watched faerie dance until the moon under which they were leaping began to ebb away, and the lance that struck through it was vanished. With the promise of daylight close by, the glen faded once again from magical illumination, into a calm melancholy as their magnificent company departed.