Chapter 6

For four years after her return from her exile, Princess Sara dutifully played the role of wife and mother, in keeping with the expectations of her family and her new husband, the Prince Adalbert. She bore him two sons, both lusty and healthy infants who thrive strongly from the day they came bawling into the world. Although she was only a small woman, she was strong and survived the horrors of childbirth well. With the eldest of her sons now nearly three years old, her figure was as trim and captivating as ever, her great beauty undiminished.

Her husband had not aged as well as his wife! That impressive bulk had turned to fat, a process hastened by the prince’s increasingly idle, gluttonous and pleasure-seeking lifestyle. As she lay beside him in bed one morning, feeling his sweaty corpulence against her, the Princess decided that she would sleep alone in future. She thought of that noble youth whom she had helped turn into a king and sighed to herself. What her husband needed, she sadly reflected, was a war to fight, or at least another man once in a while, to face in a good hard brawling fight, but he was a coward at heart - she could see that all too clearly.

“If I had been a man and blessed with such a body as his, I should have used it to prove myself a hero and a warrior, not let it degenerate into that mass of blubber” she said to her friend Martha one day, as they rode together, naked in the crisp, cold early morning air as they both still loved to be, into the hills and forests. Martha laughed sympathetically - her own husband, Baron Schroder, was still a fine figure of a man with an athlete’s build and a love of sport, wrestling, fencing and hunting on horseback three times a week (he still gave her a splendid time in bed every night - and she him!)

She again asked Sara to tell her more stories of her year and a day as a wanderer, having never tired of hearing again and again of the amazing adventures her friend had experienced during those long months away. The Princess happily obliged her closest companion, as it gave her great joy to remind herself of that year of freedom and challenge. As she told of her adventures, she relieved them inwardly and recaptured the many differing sensations she had experienced at the time. How dearly she wished she were still on her travels, sleeping on the rough and dirty ground every night instead of those hateful soft beds between those despised and loathsome white, freshly laundered, scented sheets!

She had kept her promise to herself on her first day back home, to attend the reception as naked as she had been for the past year, only allowing her maid to dress her once the last guest had departed. As the clothes had slipped over her still dainty, but bronzed and deceptively powerful shoulders, the ring, long immovably fixed to her finger, had fallen off, tinkling on the stone floor of her apartment. That gentle, scarcely audible noise had sounded to her like a funeral bell drearily tolling the end of her liberty.

She had picked up the gold band and shed a tear for her lost freedom. The ring was now kept in a leather pouch, which she always wore next to her skin. Today it bobbed up and down in keeping with the rhythm of Champion’s strides, knocking gently and regularly against her delicious breasts as they rode together.

“Whatever happened to your determination to take part in the Council of State, Sara? Too busy being a wife and mother?” asked Martha, when the Princess had finished her story of the day. She herself had no child, a cause of some sorrow, although there was still plenty of time.

“No, Martha. I leave the upbringing of the children to their nurses and soon they will begin their long process of instruction and education. I see them once a day and that is it. The joys of childhood are unworthy of future Kings and warriors. I am prevented by the stupidity of men, whose ineptitude brings the Kingdom ever deeper into crisis, from having my rightful say. I will prevail one day, however. There are many who are appalled at the way things are going and I am in constant touch with them. My time will come!”

Martha glanced at the young Princess beside her as they rode towards their favorite picnic spot. She was as proud as ever and a hundred times more determined. She did not doubt that the day would come when her childhood friend would indeed come to have her say in the governance of the land, and that this day would be a happy one for all but the indolent and stupid.

There were many dangers impending at the present time. A neighboring King had been eyeing some of the country’s richest provinces for some years and the reaction of the King, her father, had been weak and pusillanimous in the extreme, offering concessions and bribes which had only served to spur the aggressor to make further demands. Things were beginning to look deadly serious.

Princess Sara knew that the army was ready to march at her father’s command, but this command never came. There was only one solution, a solution so drastic, that even this highly determined young woman still shrank with horror and distaste from implementing the measures necessary to achieve it!

Another week passed and the Princess became more and more withdrawn. The troubles and perils which were beginning to overwhelm the Kingdom were on her mind all day and every day. Messengers were seen coming and going from her Spartan apartment where each night, she slept alone, naked and unprotected, on the cold stone floor, the windows wide open to let in the icy, purifying clean night air.

She could no longer be prompted to regale her companion with thrilling tales of her adventures. Martha still accompanied her darling friend on their morning rides, but found them more and more uncomfortable, as the Princess rode slowly, her mind seemingly a million miles away. The bigger girl found the cold of these Spring mornings getting to her in a way it never did to the hardened and stoical Princess - each day more and more a woman of steel. Loyal Martha bore all this meekly and patiently, knowing her company to be of value to the deeply worried girl at her side.

Most days they would ride to the same spot where, years ago, Sara had humbly apologized to her peasant companion for her unforgivably wicked viciousness and cruelty in ordering her to strip in front of the whole Court, including the King. They had been close friends before this seminal event, but after it, their love and mutual respect had deepened so as to assume an almost sacred nature for them both. Sara would gladly die, if it should ever become necessary, to save the precious life of her friend, and Martha felt the same for the Princess with the same supercharged fierceness and utter certainty.

All week the rumors of military incursions from the neighboring kingdom of Gloss burg under their bombastic and ruthless King Adolf the Terrible, had been circulating and causing growing fear. Groups of worried looking citizens could be seen, wherever men assembled and met together, discussing the possibility of war with this ruthless neighbor and the terrible eventuality of possible conquest and subjugation.

Most men still trusted their beloved King to fight for them and lead their army to victory, but those few people with access to the highest in the land knew better than to trust this amiable and selfish weakling and his obese and degenerate son-in-law, who had once seemed such a brave and glorious hero. Distrust and uncertainty were beginning to percolate downwards and sap people’s morale. The situation was becoming desperate and the Princess knew this fully well. She rued more bitterly than ever that she had not been born a man! She would have sorted this mess out months ago, instead of letting the situation reach this desperate pass!

One morning, with the frost still adorning the grass, the couple were on their way to their beloved usual spot, where they intended to spend the day, relaxing on the sward as the sun rose and warmed their young and lovely nakedness. Suddenly, the Princess pulled up her white horse, the faithful Champion, and dismounted. For some seconds she stood there, her bare feet chilled by the time on the grass, but seemingly unaffected by this.

After what seemed an Aeon to the shivering Martha, anxious to get moving again and restore some circulation to her cold limbs, the pensive Princess took off the leather pouch from around her slim neck and removed the ring, which she placed on her finger. She had done this many times in the last four years, hoping for something, and always the ring, obviously several sizes too large for those delicate and almost transparent fingers, slid off. This time it was different! The simple and plain band of pure gold fitted snugly on her finger and would not suffer itself to be removed, no matter how hard the excited Princess pulled!

“I knew it, my darling friend! My time has come at last! Always remember this - darling, precious Martha! Of all those I know and love in this world, none has ever or will ever stand higher in my affections than you. Remember that always, my dear friend - words alone, in their pitiful and hopeless inadequacy, can never hope to express even the most minuscule part of the immense and profound love I have for you! And now we must go home. I will attend the meeting of the State Council to prevent disastrous decisions being taken by the miserable and despicable cowards who are ruining our land, chief among them, I grieve to say, my husband and father! Come with me, if you will be so kind, my love! I so desperately need the presence of my truest and dearest friend on such a day as this will be!”

With these words, Princess Sara quite literally leapt back onto the back of her adored Champion. She bent her slim and supple back, softly whispering something into his ear, an expression on that heartbreakingly beautiful face of such gentle and loving tenderness to the beloved steed and companion through her journeys, as caused the watching Martha to shed tears at the sight of it, knowing with a fearful cold hand on her heart, that her dear friend might be with her for very little longer.

The Princess urged the horse into a gallop. He had reacted to whatever Sara had said to him in the most amazing way, pawing the ground frantically with his front hooves and then kicking out frantically with his back legs, snorting and neighing loudly.

Martha caught up.

“What did you say to Champion, Sara?”

“I said he was to bear me on a mission of great danger, in which we might very likely perish, the pair of us! He is no coward - the brave and wonderful fellow! And neither am I! We rejoice together at what we are both called to do. And - my dear friend - before so very long, you must cease to call me ‘Sara’, although it pains me to say it. You will see what I mean soon enough! Just never, ever forget that you are the one I love most in this world - apart from my people!”

By the time they reached the Palace, both girls were red with exertion and a healthy glow covered both their bodies, as well as the steaming flanks of the two horses. Sara dismounted with one bound, landing lightly on her feet with the cat-like agility she had acquired during the course of the long and memorable exile, from which she had returned four years ago.

“Come along, Martha, my sweet dear friend. To the Council Chamber, this very minute! Not a second must be lost if our land is to be saved from both the foul hand of the enemy and the evil cowardice of traitors within!”

“Surely you must be properly dressed in your Robes of State and I in my Peeress’s gown?” asked an amazed Martha.

“Now that I wear once again the Fairy Ring, no other covering shall adorn my body until the danger to our country is past!”

The two naked girls ran up the staircase leading to the Council Chamber and brushed aside the astounded guards, Sara, a little ahead of her friend. The Princess and the faithful Martha burst into the room. At once all the feverish talking among the courtiers and generals ceased, as heads turned in stupefied amazement to the doorway. The tiny but imperious Princess, speaking in tones of ringing authority and total clarity, her voice audible throughout the enormous room, demanded immediate admittance to their counsels!

“What do you mean by this? You shame us all by appearing before us naked. Take these girls away, guards!”

So spoke the King as he saw his daughter and her loyal friend, naked and sweating, and smelling somewhat after their exertions, burst into the council chamber.

“I am one in whose veins flows the blood of heroes! I would be a hero myself but for the cruel fate that made me a woman! I have a right to know how you propose to defend this land from the dangers which threaten it from every side. Speak, oh my beloved Father!” So spoke the regal Sara, her face white with rage.

There were murmurs of approval from among the phalanx of Generals seated at the far end of the Council table. They had, to a man, been eagerly waiting for the Princess to arrive.

The King reddened. He spoke after some effort, seeming to have difficulty breathing!

“King Adolf has been graciously pleased to make us a fine and generous offer, my beloved daughter! I do not doubt that you will heartily agree that it will, verily, be the salvation of our Kingdom and the harbinger of a time of peace and amity between our two countries!

“In a few minutes, my sweet and lovely daughter, you and Martha can go and return to your needlework, crochet and womanly gossip, leaving the serious business of government and diplomacy to those best qualified to practice these delicate arts. I and your fine husband have negotiated an honorable way out of the troubles that have caused such bad blood between our two countries!”