Ch: 264 Hey There Li’l Red Riding Hood

Freshly bathed and with his head unclouded by that devilish smoke, the madman and the assassin waited in the garden dressed in sturdy workman’s clothes.

Jocomo still felt remnants of that pleasant warm tightening of his scalp… like wearing the softest wooly hat on a cold day… with a kitten underneath, making biscuits on his brain. He shook off the comfy feeling and focused up.

Her imperial majesty followed the giantess Shai out of the house, with three children dressed as tiny barbarian Adventurers. The girl wore cobalt blue combat robes, sparkling with fanciful ‘magical’ symbols, embroidered with tremendous skill and care. The child seemed to shimmer and sparkle as she moved and chattered, two things she did constantly.

One boy wore sturdy leather armor with bronze rings and plates over his vitals, it seemed a well done costume, the child seemed happy with his ‘gear’ in any case. The smallest boy, if only by a little, wore a fanciful turtle costume armor. The sort that fringe tribals go in for, animal totems and the like.

Gabbie… ‘The empress!’ He reminded himself sternly. She cheered and clapped, as the kids gamboled about and regaled her with tall tales of their ‘Adventures’. The events were unlikely at best, troubling hallucinations at worst; yet the empress seemed to listen to their tales of zombie armies and bathing vampires with credulity…

The two giants embraced warmly, as the kids swarmed around, seeming at times that there were at least a dozen of them. They clasped hands and strolled out of the garden gate with a cheerful nod and smile for the mismatched duo standing awkwardly nearby.

“Come along. Into the deep dark woods!” The madma… Gary called in his odd lilting accent and cadence. He began to whistle along with his woman’s musical hips as they strolled down a trail between thickets of alder and hickory. He and his kids vanished into the undergrowth, with the empress and her ninja right behind them. In a few seconds even the music faded.

#

“Ahhh… some peace and quiet…” Becky sighed at last. She headed for the bath, then bed. She’d never liked sleeping alone… now it sounded like heaven… if just for a while… Maybe Otho or Nara needed a nap.

She made her way into the private bath and submerged her troubles all alone… With a soft yelp she backed away from the waterfall, when someone moved behind the dancing steam.

“Kermal?” She stammered.

“Sorry, high priestess, I’m naturally sneaky…” The young squire murmured. “I’ll go.”

“No, stay… it’s nice seeing you again… you just sorta vanished when Gabbie landed on me.” She said softly, holding up a hand to forestall him. “How are you doing?”

“Oh… I’m… I’m doing really well…” He smiled brightly, coming into clear focus… in a way that was very familiar. “Jules has me operating independently, as an agent of the duchy… A spy, really, it’s very exciting!”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” She demanded furiously. “You’re just a kid!” He gave her a stare so stony and dry it could never support life. In that hostile environment, she stammered and backpedaled a little. “You know what I mean… I have my whole family with me. It’s different!”

He nodded and smiled sadly. “My gifts only work on me… so I have to work alone, mostly. It’s nice when I can spend time with people I care about… and who understand.”

“Kermal, Kerms… you’re family, wherever you go. Ok?” She swept him up in a wet hug and rested her chin on his shoulder.

He gently gripped her shoulders and eased her back, with a reluctant sigh. “Becky… I’ve… I’ve been waiting for a chance to talk to you… alone.” He smiled weakly “Those are pretty rare.”

“I lead a busy life. Very busy, very chaotic and demanding.” She answered carefully. “A few people who have tried to… talk to me privately, so far they have all found the challenge too daunting.”

“You aren’t seeing trooper Levin, anymore?” He asked, just as carefully.

“A mysterious benefactor redeemed his indenture debt; so he returned home, to the dubious embrace of his family in Port Fallon. He found Becky attractive, but the high priestess was more than he could accept.” She spoke calmly, but her eyes told the tale.

“I’m not asking to spend time with the high priestess, Becky. I’m asking the brave, ferocious girl that’s been wandering in my dreams every night.” He shifted nervously, as he struggled to keep his cool. Asking a girl out, while in the bath with her was a level of difficulty he hadn’t prepared for.

“Will you walk with me in the market some afternoon?”

“Certainly!” Becky blasted him with a radiant smile that cleared a bit of the steam between them away. “First, I need a nap and you’re drafted as my naptime buddy…” She sang happily, grabbing the hapless lad by the hand.

She dragged him ashore, as her colorful sleep attire appeared around her, seeming to bloom from sparkles of bright colored lights.

She pulled a pile of familiar ‘Pj’s’ from her storage gift with a flourish and handed them over. “Get changed… I’m exhausted.”

The young squire was on the wide sofa in the common room by the fire, under a throw blanket, lost in a nest of bright colored pillows with a warm snuggly high priestess before he really understood what was happening. The warm fire, soft blanket and pleasantly huggable girl made the decisions for him. Naptime was go.

#

Gabriella Rex, empress of Light and Pontifex Obscura was not frightened… not even a little… by the dark tunnel of trees, the thick underbrush and the profusion of scurrying, flying, chirping, peeping… things all around.

Shai and her children vanished into and reappeared seemingly at random from the dark forest all around, moving with preternatural skill… Of Shai’s distressing mate she saw little, once they entered the dark forest. She heard him though. His strange, twangy shamisen thing, his… ‘Banjo’ rang out in the woods, calling and singing to them from all around.

Who's that I see walkin' in these woods?

Why, it's little red riding hood!

Hey there li’l red ridin’ hood,

You sure are lookin’ good…

“You’re everything a big bad wolf could want…

Jocomo moved in the wilderness as well as the children did, save that he stayed close to her. “Shai! Don’t you worry you will get lost… The children Shai!” She called out desperately. “Amy, Rio, Wilf... stay by me darlings! It’s dangerous!”

No one paid any heed, save faithful Jocomo…

“Empress… This is not a wilderness… we are…” Amy appeared, standing on a tree limb where only he would see her, one finger pressed to her lips. Startled, he fell silent. His radiant empress tucked her bright red hood up and stood closer to him, as if seeking warmth.

Her fingers found the sash holding his wooly jacket, with a silly plush wolf’s head hood of his own. “Empress, I think these children are safe here. You should perhaps stay with me.”

…Gonna keep my sheep suit on…

Until you’ve been show-wn

I can be trusted, walkin with you alone…

“But they’re so tiny!” She gasped. “Walking in these spooky old woods alone! There could be wolves!”

He opened his mouth to reassure her, when a long, lupine howl split the day… startling birds from the trees. She shuddered and grasped his arm, which placed her modest bosom around that suddenly very warm and pleasant feeling limb.

‘Blessed left arm… I’ll never wash you again.’ He thought, irrationally. He let his arm stay there though… gods blight him for a weak willed, craven worm.

He led her down the path to a pleasant, grassy glade beside the river, where the bank was low and reedy. They sat on time worn boulders, and cushions produced from nowhere at all. Likewise, a wicker hamper appeared, disgorging a small feast, enough for ten men at least.

There were sandwiches wrapped in paper, cold fried chicken and crocks of cold potato salad and more. It all landed on a plaid throw blanket, among a small cart load of pillows and cushions.

The two giants and their children worked together to set out a fine meal in the deep, dark wilderness. They even had a travel samovar and camp stove for hot tea and cocoa!

Jocomo tried to refuse their demand that he sit and eat with his empress… Six sets of disapproving eyes and that there was no one around to see his shameful behavior finally overruled his training and conditioning. He took a cushion on the periphery of the group, placing himself between as much of the forest and her radiance as possible, while retaining a decorous distance between them… one did what one could under the circumstances. He sat with his back to her of course, that he might watch for danger more effectively while she enjoyed her meal.

A startling warmth and sensation of intense pleasure flooded his senses, as the empress scooted over to lean against his body, using him as a backrest. Her bottom pressed against his as she swayed to the music, since one of the giants or children was alway just putting away an instrument, when another would pick up the tune. Gradually the little band of barbarians migrated to engulf him.

“Are you really a ninja?” Wilf asked, peering at him suspiciously.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“What’s a ‘ninja’?” He asked calmly. “I am my empress’ left hand, I work her will, without question.”

“That’s exactly what a ninja would say…” He mumbled, nodding his turtle helmet soberly.

“You are a very strange little boy… aren’t you?” He smiled at the child in a way that he hoped would be reassuring…

“I don’t trust you…” He murmured firmly. “No… I trust Gabbie… You need help. Hurt people, hurt people, that’s what Papa Gary says.”

“You have been talking to the spider and that night bird…” He muttered.

“Hohuh is very wise…” The child grumbled, like an old man. “But Thirp is my beloved auntie.” He glared at Jocomo insolently and huffed through his nostrils. Without another word the child up and toddled off, to sit on Papa Gary’s lap and glare at him.

“Wilf’s mad… mad at you, mad at everyone, cause he ‘members.” Amy sang happily from Gabbies lap. “Wilf ‘members more than any of us, cause… You wouldn’t understand.” She went back to her sandwich, munching in a far more contemplative manner than most children her age could manage.

“Gotta help him ‘member good stuff too.” She said around a groundworm meatball ‘hoagie’.

Watching the little family eat was terrifying. They pounded down more victuals than a whole platoon of veteran warriors could have stuffed into themselves. Then they started foraging! Mushrooms, berries, herbs, tubers… Gary came back with a big basket of pinching water bugs, their armored bodies rattling against his wicker cage. Amy scurried up with Wilf, hauling a goodly sack of hickory nuts between them.

They tucked most of their haul away in… wherever things went. A sample of each was carefully laid out on the big blanket when all the kids came back, giggling and muddy, with leaves in their hair and berry juice on their lips.

Together, they sat on the blanket, as Gary quizzed and lectured them on each gathered item. They made a game of it, identifying them by touch, scent or taste alone.

Gabbie and Jocomo watched, seated together side by side on a mossy boulder; as the little family played and sang songs in the warm summer sun. In their own way, each felt a draw, a gravitational pull to the scene. A sense of not belonging, while desperately wishing to belong… and a bittersweet heartache for some unremembered loss.

Fifth bell rang out from the nearby town, breaking the spell and beginning the very abrupt cleanup process. Their glade was little worse for the visit. A little trampled and flattened grass, a few small slightly scraggly bushes, where herbs or berries had been harvested. Otherwise they left no trace of their passing, only footprints and memories remained.

When they emerged from the forest and walked a few short minutes home, the kids and their giant parents strolled a few yards ahead, leaving the empress and her guardian somewhat private.

Gabbie refused to release Jocomo’s hand, smiling and humming her ducky song, just as when they were very young… before he’d begun his training and conditioning.

His mind wandered back to those days, when they were together at every moment… memories he’d locked away and forbidden himself to savor, lest he go mad.

“I should never have let them make you the left hand…” she sighed, and tugged on his arm playfully, as she had so long ago. “Being apart has been so awful…”

“Her radiance needs her left hand to move unseen…” He murmured softly. “...his place is rightfully in your shadow, unseen, my empress.”

“Our new friend has company in his shadow… they meet his gaze and play with his children.” She whispered.

“Barbarian witches and their evil sorceries are hardly a fit comparison, radiant empress.” He muttered sourly.

Gabbie stumbled , halting in her tracks with a sudden jerk. “Did you just contradict me, Jocomo?” She asked, hauling him to a stop by his hand.

“...” His wordless gasp of shame was all the warning she got, before he crumpled to his knees, face first in the lawn.

“Jocomo, you get up this instant! I was going to praise you for your initiative… Jocomo!” She huffed and fussed at him until he finally stirred. For the rest of their short walk home, he followed a pace behind her, silent and utterly rigid. He remained stubbornly intractable for the whole evening.

#

Becky woke up in Kermal’s arms, feeling snug, warm and safe, beside the fireplace. The kids stampeded in, waking Kermie, while she was still snuggling him. His long dark lashes fluttered and revealed the deep, dark eyes, tinged with equal measures of sadness and joy. Becky drank him in as he stretched against her, so lean, and strong. His shy, embarrassed smile sent butterflies through her tummy, made worse when he whispered softly in her ear...

“Becky, I really need to pee.”

#

Gary and Shai swept into the house, following after the kids. They trooped to the baths to wash up before dinner… Gabbie and Jocomo came drifting in after, seeming at odds and distant, again.

With a sigh, Becky released her weakly struggling prisoner and watched him scamper off for the jakes, she smiled warmly as he fled, half dancing with urgency.

Her smile faded as she stood and bustled over to Gabbie and her increasingly awkward follower. She helped the empress with her slippers, since she still struggled with footwear for some reason… while Jocomo silently refused to help, or even begin changing his own shoes, until Gabbie finished.

With a frustrated huff, Becky also remained silent, taking her new sister by the hand and leading her off upstairs. Once they were behind Becky’s door and seated side by side on her bed, Gabbie collapsed in sobbing misery, again.

“I think he hates me!” She moaned softly, her face buried in Becky’s shirt. Her Pj’s were conjured, thankfully, Becky’s wardrobe had taken some serious hits over the last few days…

“He doesn’t hate you… he’s all tangled up in duty, taboos, tradition and his own damage.” She whispered softly, while rocking the empress. “Give him time… and yourself too. You’ve been starved for love and affection so long, it’s hard to understand the changes you’re going through.” She kept rocking her sister back and forth, humming ‘Rubber Ducky’ along with the sobbing girl.

“Listen to Gary… he’s like you, and Jocomo… that’s why Thirp sent you back to us… you need mortal love and tenderness more than anything else… both of you.”

“Your Gary is horrible… he’s dark and twisted inside…” She mumbled finally. “I’ve seen the sky of that place in his mind…” She whispered.

“He’s not the sky in that place, Gabbie… he’s the dirt and soil… and the hole in the ground that the water pours into… You’ll understand someday.”

“Someday…” She sniffled. “Today is what’s wrong! What if… what if he never will touch me?” that set off a new round of sobs, as Gabbie took a crack at the dry side of Becky’s top.

“I could order him to…” She mumbled after a while. “He’d obey if…”

With sudden and surprising strength, the tiny girl pushed Gabbie back from her breast and frowned at her sobbing sister. “If you do that…” Becky growled fiercely at her. “...I won’t speak to you, ever again! Don’t even joke about that!” The passion and restrained fury in her voice gave the empress pause…

“Obedience and service is the orphan’s code…” Gabbie sniffed and wiped at her eyes, startled by Becky’s sudden intensity. “It’s never spoken of, but everyone knows that most nobles and clerics use their indentures for pleasure as well. It’s traditional.”

“Gabbie… There are few taboos in this land… that is one that is also enshrined in the law.” She said softly to her confused and distraught sister. “I need you to fully grasp that. Coercing an indentured person for sex is a crime… even if it doesn’t get punished nearly often enough.”

“Really?” She whispered, having trouble with the concepts involved. “But, he’s mine…”

“Really, Gabbie. It’s a crime to use compulsion magic here as well… the bonds tying you to him and the others are… deeply troubling. I know you don’t understand what they’ve done to you, yet. That is something we are going to have to work on.” She leaned forward and kissed her sister’s troubled brow.

“No more orders. If you stop commanding him, he’ll have to think for himself. Let him twist in the wind a little.”

#

Kermal emerged from the jakes and found the small, muscular man with the tattoo of an open hand on his face standing awkwardly by the stairs. “Hi, I’m Kermal Singh… visiting from Port Clement.” He said with a friendly smile.

“Jocomo.” The man answered stiffly.

“Did you really try and kill Gary?” He asked conversationally, taking a seat at a nearby table.

“Twice.” The man replied, seeming even stiffer.

“Oohh! This must be super socially awkward for you then! Wanna talk about it?” He asked with a friendly smile, gesturing to a seat across from him.

“Sit, you can watch the stairs from here just as well… I’ll go see what’s happening in the kitchen…”

“Do you barb… People ever stop eating?” He asked in amazement.

Kermal laughed heartily and grinned. “It’s scary isn’t it? Even the kiddies eat like wagon drivers… The Wards are always hungry… always.”

#

Greggor paced anxiously through the empty palace staff quarters. So empty, the cupboard of delights he had been sampling for… so very long, was bare, not a treat to be tasted. He fumed and wandered, lost in the pleasant memories of the time he’d spent stalking these corridors, taking a taste wherever and whenever he wished.

It had been… an uncomfortable span of decades since Luxor had banished him from the orphanage… He dared not violate that command, not after last time.

“Curse luxor and her rules…!” He spat, as he flopped down on one of the vacant, cold bunks.

Hardly even the scent of its former occupant remained; they had all simply vanished in the night. He sulked and masturbated sullenly on the vacant bed, even befouling the covers for the next orphan to deal with gave him no pleasure.

Furious, he stomped from the palace staff quarters and out into the gardens to sit, think and sulk as the moon rose over the city and empire he had stewarded for so terribly long. “I give so much… and ask so little…” He mumbled, as he fell asleep in the warm moonlit garden, heedless of the slim, dark shadow that slipped from the shrubberies behind him.

#

Luxor sat up with a jolt, as she felt Greggor’s life end… somewhere nearby, the spirit bonds she’d had entwined in his soul came slithering back, frayed and carrying the faint, sour taste of his rotting essence to her. There was no hint of distress, he seemed to have passed in his sleep… peacefully...

In the ritual chamber beneath the cubic throne of Light, she caressed the crystalline reliquary where most of her dwelt. The deep red carnelian stone, veined with long, winding seams of lapis, flecked with gold was the very image of a human heart… not the charming ‘love hearts’ of human imagery.

The very naturalistic, crystaly, gristly mass of stone seemed to pulse with life and occult energies, running through golden veins and arteries emerging from where it was installed in its nook in the square stalactite of gold, plunging from the ceiling.

The golden pillar that descended through the roof of her chamber thrummed with life and power still, fueling her essence in this plane, but it was waning. Too long since the empress child had recharged it with her bottom… too long. Wherever those tax creatures found her sacrificial victims… none of the children she’d tried over countless centuries had worked. Only the ones they provided every eighteen or twenty years could feed her hunger, now they had fled, the brown robed vermin.

Luxor cursed herself for not following through with her oft considered plans to secure her own source of those delicious, special children.

Recruiting a new Craft priest was likely to weaken her even more; even if she gave one with similar appetites free run of the orphans. That always went sour quickly. ‘Mortals and their wretched bodies!’ She fumed angrily.

Part of her manifold nature contemplated that problem, while other portions considered a replacement. She’d kept Greggor for two and half centuries, simply because he was so easy to manipulate and handle… Toss some mortal waif his way every few months and the fellow would happily comply with anything.

Disposing of the remains and concealing his appetites from the general populace was a small price to pay for a useful tool. Now she would need to groom another… and quickly.

Old Tully was thankfully still going strong after three hundred and fifty mortal years. War’s clergy was more difficult to manipulate, she had little power over that bloodthirsty old man’s particular motivations. He served for his own reasons and obeyed without question… as mortals should. With a dissatisfied sigh, she directed her body up the stairs and back into the noisy world of men.

Whatever had caused her mortal servant to unravel and slip from her grasp was another thorny problem… it felt as though the natural process of mortal ‘aging’ had somehow affected her bonds of spirit and Will, weakening and finally dissolving them. Luxor frowned unhappily, that mortal should have been good for at least a few more decades, now she was caught without a ready replacement… where to find a mortal with similar appetites? This was going to be a challenging time…

#

“So, operation hayride was less than fully successful…” Gary mumbled in the kitchen, where they were working on mixed monster meat sloppy joes. “Drop those fries, lover.”

“Aye lad, hae ye the toasting of the buns?” Shai asked, from inside a cloud of steam.

Kermal watched them dance together for a while, smiling at the pair. “Your boy Jocomo has it bad…” He murmured, while hugging Gary, then Shai in turn. “But he’s all twisted up inside… Drawn tighter than a bowstring and ready to snap.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty jacked up… handle him carefully. Like a feral cat.” Gary advised firmly.

“Huh…” The young squire muttered. “I’ve been chatting with the locals… that’s what they usually say about you.”

Gary opened his mouth to make a retort he no doubt thought would be quite witty, when violence and the sound of breaking furniture erupted from the front room.

Together, all three charged out of the kitchen, into a common room in shambles.

Tables and chairs were scattered and heaped in broken piles all around. Splashes of blood here and there mingled with broken crockery, as two people battled in the middle of the room.

“Beware! This is a demon in human guise!” Jocomo gasped, as he staggered back, clutching his broken arm.

“Pots and kettles!” Ellie shouted back, as she pursued him across the floor. “You are strung through and dangling from a demon’s threads, less a puppet than a fly in a spider’s web I think…” Kelli’s soft, pudgy seeming body flowed across the floor with liquid, savage grace, in pursuit of her prey.

The sweet, smiling face Gary and Shai knew was deeply asleep, snoring, as her body threw punches and kicks with terrible precision and deadly force.

“Light above!” Jocomo gasped, when Elli hip tossed him onto a bar table, delivering a stunning blow to his left hip on the way by. “Where do these monsters come from?!”

“Elli! Stop!” Amy shouted from the top of the stairs. “Don’t hurt him, just cause he used the ‘M’ word!”

In a flash, Elli was between Jocomo and the children, even as he was trying to get between Elli and the empress. She was just emerging from the hall, further complicating the whole mess.

That carried the running battle directly at Amy and the boys, on the landing.

#