Dear Readers,
I cannot express how happy I am that you enjoyed my first submission. I can only hope that having taken any negative feedback on board I have improved and can excite you further. This submission will continue Iyva's story and take her and Matthew's relationship forward. I have changed the title from Medieval to True Fantasy, as feedback dictated this was more accurate! I have also moved it from NC/R to Fantasy as this is also more relevant as not all the chapters will be NC/R. This chapter is mainly from Iyva's point of view. Enjoy...
Ch.02 - Exploration
"Can't you just leave me alone please? I just need to be alone." I sighed and shut the door. Thankfully he did not resist.
"Just call me if you need anything." I heard Matthew's footsteps recede down the hallway. I think it would be too much to ask for them to just keep going.
I gingerly slid into the bathtub. The water was hot and my skin turned red, my bruised vagina stung a little. I lay there for a few minutes staring at the ceiling, trying to piece together the person I used to be with the person I was now. I had not intended for any of this to happen, I did not want it to happen, but I did not feel like everything was going to fall apart. The sun would set on the world tonight and rise tomorrow morning.
I prised the soap from the edge of the bath and rubbed it on a washcloth. Matthew had given me no choice, but I was glad that he had done it. I had enjoyed some parts. I could not kid myself, there were some parts I did not like, but hopefully I would be able to circumvent those in future. I felt a little dirty thinking of all the women I had heard about being with Matthew before he became my betrothed. I tried to shake the image of him entwined with every woman that kept popping into my head but I could not, so I decided to stop thinking about him altogether. I scrubbed my vagina a little harder than I had intended to.
After my bath I gently dried myself off and got back into my clothes. Now the passion was over I wanted to be fully dressed again. It was then I decided Matthew could not have me again until our wedding night. I could not risk a pregnancy so soon. A month or so later and it might slip by unnoticed, but two months was too much.
One moment I was happy with the situation, empowered and in control. The next moment I felt weak and helpless, like I wanted to cry, go home and forget it had ever happened. I am an adult. I am a woman. I am stronger than this god damn it.
I brushed my hair and set it in place as it had been before we left. The make-up was gone, but there was nothing I could do about that here. I would just have to say I had to wash my face as I had dirtied it when I fell from my horse. The last thing I did before I left the room was put my knickers back on. I had never realised such an inanimate object could hold so many emotions.
Matthew was waiting downstairs. I found myself unable to meet his eye, for every time I looked at him I could feel his touch, and the fact it did not disgust me disgusted me. He had set out a meal for us, and after a few minutes I stopped feeling so awkward.
"I am sorry I made you do it so soon, but there was much less pressure on you then than there would have been on our wedding night. The whole country will know what we would be doing." He smiled, and this time I did not feel like he was laughing at me.
"I know. In some ways I am glad. But it cannot happen again until then. You know that don't you, and you understand why?" This time I met his eyes.
"I understand. I do not want to, but I do. Will you avoid me until then, or can I still expect to spend a little time with you?" He actually seemed concerned.
"I guess that would be alright. As long as you don't do this to me again, I am happy with that." I smiled back at him now. Seeing as he had already seen so much of me, a conversation with him was not as hard as what it used to be.
Over lunch I realised I had actually spoken to him more during our tryst than I ever had outside of it. No wonder he could only see me as sexual gratification, he had never heard anything come out of my mouth worth listening to. We spoke about the food, mainly, but occasionally I got glimpses of what he was like as a person.
We left the lodge fairly late, and there was just enough time for Matthew to show me the flowers that he had spoken about over breakfast this morning (which seemed like years ago). They turned out to be purple cleome, one of my favourites, but I did not let Matthew think he could win me over that quickly. I was surprised they even existed.
The ride back was unpleasant. On this occasion I gladly sat side saddle and let the horse walk. We should have left much earlier and I could only be comforted with the thought that the horse had been on this route many times and would not anything but the light of the moon to see the worn down trail.
We had to rest after a couple of hours or so, and it was dark already. When I mounted my horse again it was at this time I realised that there was something amiss. I could see a red haze in the direction of the castle and could taste the smoke on my tongue. Matthew's eyes grew wide and I did not have to ask him to confirm what I thought I could see.
My immediate fear was for the safety of my family, my servants, my dog, the children. If I strained I could hear screams, but I did not know if they were figments of my imagination or reality.
"Get to the lodge." Matthew ordered, barely above a whisper.
"And just leave them?!" I gasped.
"No. I am going back. But this is the work of the Barbarians to the east. Do not push the luck the gods have granted you with. If the worst has already happened, you are alive and that is what the hope of the country will rest on. I am going back for the others. Pack saddlebags with any food and clothes you can find. I will bring anyone I can to the lodge. If I am not back by sunrise, then flee as fast as you can to the South and search out the Mercury Brotherhood."
I tried to ask more but he cantered away before I could speak. I sobbed as I glanced one last time toward the horizon and made my way to the lodge. I cantered hard, riding like a jockey. When I got there I realised if I unsaddled my horse I would have a hard time trying to get it back on again, so I just took his bridle off and let him graze in the paddock. A freshwater stream went through the field so I did not have to worry about that, at least.
I packed as many bags as I could find with as much food as I could find. When I had done that, I changed my clothes and wore trousers and a shirt. I packed old petticoats and curtains; they might be needed for wounds. I packed all the clothes that the lodge contained. There was a massive pile of bags in the kitchen when I had finished. I decided weapons might be useful, and looked in the stables and sheds. I piled these on the large kitchen table. There were cooking knives, pitch forks, spades, I had even brought in brooms. I did not know if Matthew would be back, but I hoped he would bring as many people as he could find.
The sky was starting to lighten and I was losing hope of every seeing anyone I had known in my life ever again. When I finally plucked up the courage to flee as Matthew had told me to, I heard hoof beats; lots of them. I ran to an upstairs window. I could see Matthew leading a dozen or so horses, but it was still too dark to see whose lives he had managed to save.
"Get inside, all of you. Drake please see the horses are cared for and turn them out. You can sort that one out too." He pointed to the horse I still had not had the courage to unsaddle.
Matthew stormed inside and ordered people about straight away. I could never have taken charge like he had in such a situation. Two men helped a women inside and it took me a few seconds to realise it was my maid.
"Princess I am so sorry." She sobbed. "I couldn't stop them. She wouldn't let them take her so they killed her. He went down fighting. I hid with Tsuki but they found her. She didn't give me away. I lost Jet somewhere between the castle gate and the edge of town. I tried Iyva, I really tried." She hardly took time to breathe between sentences and she coughed and sobbed her heart out when she had finished.
My parents were dead. Tsuki must be dead. My dog Jet was lost, probably dead. Elsie was alive, Matthew was alive. I walked about in a daze for the next few hours, helping where I could. Matthew had not managed to get anywhere near the castle. Elsie was the only person I knew personally, though I did know who some of the others were. There was a blacksmith and a boy I had seen around the docks before.
We spent the day there, Matthew having posted people as lookouts on the roof. Luckily the attackers did not know anything about the hunting lodge and they were only worried about the royal family, so they did not search this far. After a few hours, Matthew came looking for me.
"I am sorry Iyva, but we need to leave. You are our priority now; we have to keep you safe. We will be moving in less than an hour. If you need me then come and find me. I have work to do." He left. He did not say anything about my parents, or about his family that were staying. Is his sister alive? Is she trapped? Did I even want to hear the answers I keep searching for?
Leaving was tough. We set out, and every single person was glancing back behind us. We were not prepared, but we would make the best of what we could. Matthew led us forward for over a day. He would not let us travel by road, and we kept to the forest. I did not ask how he had managed to find his way through, but it seemed he had been this way before.
We were all on our last legs, about to pass out, when Matthew said we could stop for the night. Luckily it was a warm night and we would not need shelter, and it let us build a small fire to cook on. Matthew knew we were tired, so he said he would take the first watch himself while he cooked. We could not argue and we rolled out curtains and bedding, and slept.
I woke up some time during the night. I could hear whispering. Matthew was waking some of the able bodied men. They took positions around us. I grabbed the knife I had secluded in my waist band and joined them.
