Chapter 6

James was soon, inside Adaleide thrusting away, while Ella stood watching his rapid, energetic movements. She did feel a twinge of jealousy as his ass excitedly bounced in union with Adaleide’s hips.

“Jesus,” he blurted out, there was that name again, she mused. Something from his past, something used as a curse word, or an exclamation. “Christ.”

He came, she sighed, her own pussy damp from watching the interaction. Her nipples hard, she frowned, she couldn’t worry about it at the moment though. She watched as he pushed into the healer, whole body stiff as he emptied his manseed deep within her. When he was done, slumping down, the older woman stroked his head. Ella inclined hers and slipped out.

That done, James extracted himself, he kissed Adaleide and she smiled at him, “You were energetic?”

He nodded and gripped her tit.

When he was up and out, he noted Ella’s bed was empty, which meant that she had heard them getting it on.

Good – he wanted her wet, desperate and gagging for it, he hoped to push her over the edge into the depths of depravation so that when she fell, he was there to grab her and pull her deeper still.

He moved with alacrity, electricity seemed to flow through his veins as today was the day, the day they would actually get to see the tournaments, to see the castle in all its glory, to see the Queen again. His loins stirred at the thought, not that he would ever get a chance with her, still the thought of that long blonde hair, those firm breasts, tight ass and blue eyes that he could just fall into nearly melted his heart.

He got the fire going again, the heat waking the others up and went down to the river, with his makeshift spear, speared some fish and took it back. He cleaned them up and started cooking them.

The smell roused the others, Ella came back, smiling and stretching as he crouched by the fire, she couldn’t help but smile at his eagerness.

Adaleide shifted and groaned, squeezing Isa’s soft tit and moaned as she pushed up against the younger woman, she sighed, eyes fluttering open and looked to see who she was gripping. She looked down and looked at James, who saw her and raised an eyebrow, she flushed a bit pink and slid her hand off Isa’s impressive chest.

They ate breakfast and gathered the horses and got ready, when they were dressed and ready, James kicked dirt over the fire, walked over and hopped onto his horse. It was interesting Ella thought, how little about James she seemed to know, it wasn’t like he was solicitous with his privacy, he just didn’t reveal very much, in fact she knew his name, age and what she thought was where he came from but other than that, next to nothing.

She recognized that she would definitely need to pay more attention to him the future, for now he had been nothing but a novelty, but she thought, there was more to James than she first realized.

Isa chose to ride with James today, getting on behind him, she gripped him and he tapped the horse with his feet and they were off.

Finally they cleared the forest and in front of them, the mighty walls of the Capital extended far and wide, covering the horizon in gray and beige and black. It had many towers along its length, and three visible doors, two of them so far away it would take them hours to reach. The path they were following leaded directly into the closest gate, and so thy marched on, getting closer with each step.

James marvelled at the gates sheer size. It was easily as thick as a house, made of wood and studded with iron. All scarred in the outside, just like the walls. This city sure had seen battle, and the fact that it was still standing had much to say about it.

This close of the wall, James saw that it was not unmanned. Each few meters stood a guard, each ready with stationary ballista, in constant vigilance of both the outside and the inside.

“The famed Hawk Guard. They could put a spear through any of us half a mile away. They are the first line of defense of the city, and generally the only one needed. The Black Horde comes every now and then, but they have never been able to put a foot in the city proper.”

“Half a mile...” mumbled James, amazed at them.

The royal procession walked into the great doors, and entered the Capital.

The greatest city in the world welcomed them with a rain of flowers, as it was common when receiving a king or queen. An enormous crowd had formed, hailing the queen and her royal guard. Shouts of welcome, of gratitude, or pledging themselves to the army. From the buildings, in the balconies and windows, young children and beautiful maidens shouted at the new arrivals, and from every wall hanged the banner of Schryyndus.

It was easy to get caught up in the enthusiasm of the games, one young maiden with a large chest was bouncing up and down, James’ head moved with the motion and the Dame rolled her eyes. He grinned and clicked his horse on and he kept up with her.

James knew that Tournaments began with a very serious purpose, which was to enable knights to practice warfare when there wasn’t a war. They fought in teams against one another. Men could be captured and ransomed, just as they could in a war. Some knights made a very good living from tournament.

The melee was the main event of a tournament. It was used to train knights to work together in a cavalry charge. They had to be able to keep formation when facing the enemy and this was the safest way to train them. Safety was, however, relative. Both sides charged at one another and fought until one side won, using blunted swords and wooden lances. But sill, broken bones and internal bleeding were completely normal, and even some deaths were expected. They were huge events for both the nobility and the people, where everyone got to have fun watching, or get a chance to bathe in glory in the arena. And James was aching to participate in one.

Their adorned procession ended in the Temporis Palace, one of the most impressive marvels of the Capital. It was a palace greater than any other one, made to accommodate comfortably the eight kings (or queens) that ruled mankind. It was an octagonal building that to James looked more like a stadium than a palace. Each side of the Temporis featured a different theme and style, from the dark stone and sombre iron of the dwarf Forge Lord to the placid wooden floors and white ceilings of the southern emeritus of the Threefold Path.

Each side of the building had its own door, and its own guards. James and the group arrived to a side build in cinder stone, with wooden railing and floor, and flags flopping all around. They entered a reinforced steel door, a portcullis, and finally a stone door, and they reached the main room of the palace. It was already decorated with the colors of the queen and her queendom, all gray stone and verdant green, strong and stern, but vivid and happy at the same time.

Each wall was adorned with a different painting, James guessed the people in the painting were previous rulers. From the arch that was supporting the room hung a great crystal chandelier, lit with a strange white light. The room was surprisingly empty, just barely enough furniture to call it a room.

In they stepped, and the knights detached their followers to carry on with the royal suites. Ella told the group to find a door with her sigil; that would be their residence for the time being.

James and the girls wandered the palace fortress under scrutiny of guards, making James feel uncomfortable. After walking around without directions for half an hour, they found a row of doors with hanging shields.

‘The knight residences,’ thought James.

They went half way through the corridor, until they saw the bronze and white shield of Ella’s family, the fist holding three arrows, hanging, and found the door unlocked. The asymmetrical group entered and installed themselves, using the spacious closet to store their clothes and hanging Ella’s battle armour in a rack. It was easily the heaviest thing they carried; almost half of James’ weight, in polished, somewhat worn steel.

Night fell quickly after, and as it got dark, a young maid entered and gave them a torch and twenty big candles, to keep out the grim, starless night sky. James decided to use the night to read the fighting manuals that Ella carried on her belongings, paying attention to their deep teachings, but ultimately falling asleep buried in the heavy words of the old tome.

In the morning, when he woke up, saw that Ella had returned from her appointment with the queen and was placidly resting in the main bed, wearing her night gown. It was almost a paradox, seeing the normally iron-clad, strong woman dressed in such girlish garment.

He decided to keep reading, as he was in a very interesting section on the use of daggers, amazed at the bloody poetry, and practising in his mind. In an hour or so everyone was up and ready, only Isa left bathing in the spacious bathhouse of the Knight Residence. James got his clothes ready, and entered the men’s bath to get cleaned and ready to seize the long day that awaited them.

When he returned from the bathhouse, he encountered the girls dressed rather elegantly; Isa was adjusting unto her body a lovely gown, silken and short, festive and juvenile. Adaleide was tying her shoes, and wearing a conservative long dress with part of the back bared. Ella had a brand-new gambeson on, pure white cotton and mail covering each corner of her body, with her armour waiting in the rack.

“Ah, there is James, I’ve got a new suit! Help me don this one!”

“Sure,” he said breathing in all of their perfume, he realized he could get drunk on it, not that he minded, his eyes unsure of where to linger.

He helped Ella’s harness on, carefully closing each strap and closing each gap. This new armour was royal-made, it truly looked regal. It was custom fitted for a queensguard, all fluted steel and brushed bronze, inlaid white and riveted with gold-capped bolts. It was an new pattern of armour, but made recently; a crowned sallet and matching gorget, short rerebraces, fitted couters, double-thickness vambraces, huge pauldrons and a short grey cape embroiled with the sigil of the queen; a feminine, tight breastplate and a sunken plackart that resalted her round chest; a stylized pair of fauld and tasset that reminisced of a short dress, spiked poleyns and tightly fitted cuisses; shapely greaves, refined sabatons, and a pair of intricately adorned gauntlets.

“The queen herself gave this suit to me. It is a gift from King Hardegin himself. Apparently he wants the favour of the queen, so he ordered his dwarf smiths to make suits for the royal guard. Lucky me.” When it was all in place, she looked at James. “Well, how do I look?” Said Ella, and posed first her natural pose, then a strong-man pose, and then did a weird gig that James found curiously amazing, amusing and arousing.

“Honestly? You look like a goddess. Won’t you divert sights from the queen in that?”

“That’s the objective. Draw attention from the enemy, so they harm me and not my liege lady.”

They went out of the luxurious room and joined the royal march, finding an overcrowded street with people shouting and acclaiming and celebrating the names of the eight rulers of the Temporis Palace.

“James, this is the single most important event in the last two years, in the entire world.” contributed Ella. “Eight kings and queens will go from the palace to the arena, to be witnesses of the Hendamjal Tournament.”

James saw the first ruler move on from the palace. He was a young boy, maybe 14 years old, wearing a crown shaped like the leaf crown used by the Greek back in his native world, followed by guards wearing golden armour. “Who is the boy?”

“He is the Emperor of the Docera, dare not call him boy in front of his guard.”

When the young Emperor passed, a tall figure walked out from the shadows of the Temporis. It was an old man, tall and bald, with a long, grey beard and a big belly. He looked like the picturesque medieval kings of the other world, made flesh and bone. He was followed by the strongest men James had ever seen, wearing chain-mail and wielding tall spears.

Next came a bizarre sight; a cart lifted in shoulders by four men, in which a girl no older than five years rested, clad in robes longer than herself, wearing a golden crown and holding a sceptre, followed by men in thick iron armour covered with embroiled tunics. “Can I call this one a girl, or will her guards shun me too?”

“It’s fine with her. She is Queen Edala, from the Holy Fragadre Kingdom. She is some kind of saint, the ruler of her land not by blood but divine right. Some say she can open the eyes of the blind and make the cripple walk, but I have my doubts.”

When they were gone too, came one that James had never expected to see. A small but gaunt man, thick of shoulder and back, but sort of legs and torso. If the wards of the fat king were as horses, this man was strong as a rhinoceros. He wore a suit of mail and thick, crude, iron plates, and a heavy set iron crown, and carried with him a war hammer adorned with a diamond big as James’ fist in his right hand and a greathelm on his left. He was followed by similar men, all of them rocking fabulous beards in many colours from red to black to white.

“Who is that one?”

“He is King Hardegin, the Dwarf King, the Bear, the Mountain Monarch, the Crusader King. Mighty warrior, loves beer and fights in the front. It is said that he is so good natured that he frequents lowly taverns in his kingdoms, to drink with his people.”

King Hardegin had not even finished walking through the avenue, when yet another monarch came out of the massive doors of the Temporis. This one was a rather elegant woman, wearing what could be described as a battle dress, made with white silk and black linen and silver mail. She was tall and gaunt, with a fierce look in her face, and an air of superiority and disdain around her. The people’s applause relented just a bit, but raged on. James felt curiosity, but when he turned around to ask Ella, he saw her with a finger lifted in front of her helmet, at the height of the breathing slits, stealthily hushing him.

James saw the last of the eight rulers and gawped, his mouth dropping slightly, Ella coughed and James closed his trap quickly. This man was a tall slender and pale man with a slightly elongated face. Around him cascaded amazing blond hair that women in his reality would’ve killed for, his eyes downcast and seemed to radiate a sense of sadness, James wondered what could have caused it and wondered what he could do to alleviate it, his heart leapt out for this man. But when the man looked up and his hair flicked out of the way, James saw pointed ears, like Vulcans from Star Trek and gawped again.

“Elf,” James whispered, twitchy moving slightly back and forth on his feet like a kid, his second look at what classed as magical creatures in this realm.

“Why are you so excited?”

“No elves where I come from.”

“What an odd world you come from, James. No smiths, no swords, no elves. Long story, I know. He is King Alsai, Lord of the Elves. His demeanour is usually sad and ominous, but then that’s his race. Long ago, the elves betrayed man. His clan was the only one loyal to us.”

After the procession of kings and queens, all their royal guards came marching the same road, as if part of a single mixed host. Ella started walking, and that signalled James that it was time to move too. The combined guard walked the path with pride, being celebrated by the people, and walking over flowers and aromatic leaves laid down for kings in front of them. As he walked, James could help but notice that the streets were already beginning to empty, as a big part of the population was entering the stadium too. This was sure going to be some major event.

Finally the avenue was over, and James entered with the guards through the great doors of the arena. The stadium was made of granite blocks stacked up tall, and engraved with countless scenes of battle and great achievements of champions. The entrance became a tunnel, and James suddenly found himself walking in a very reduced space, with just barely enough room to put a feet ahead of another.

On the other side, though, the sight of such a big place overwhelmed him. James followed Ella almost instinctively, but his main focus was on the sheer amount of people there. It was like a sports event in his previous reality, just bigger.