Chapter 4

A nest of hornets had invaded the darkness filling Ponkert's head. The buzzing accented his splitting headache and the pounding jack-hammer that unmercifully blasted through his mind. He very much wanted to be dead! But the wish seemed to be of little worth as his senses moved him through the angry hum of his universe toward the distant light of consciousness.

His eyes flickered open reluctantly and focussed on the canopy of oak limbs that blotted out the sky above--and he remembered Terri.

In reaction, he jerked up to a sitting position, only serving to arouse anew the hive of hornets that dominated his aching bead. Staring down at his own nakedness, he gingerly rubbed the back of his head. His fingers were greeted by the stickiness of oozing blood. It took a few moments for his still fuzzy vision to find a red-smeared rock near his left leg. Even in his half-dazed condition, it didn't take long to piece two and two together and realize that his scullery maid companion had had her way and given herself to Yngvi.

Yngvi!!!

The almost encounter with the black knight and his motley crew rushed back into his mind like an avalanche! Ponkert's eyes darted around the forest. There was no evidence of Yngvi or his companions.

Cautiously, the Earthman rose to his feet and padded to the security of a massive oak trunk. While neither his eyes nor ears could discern any signs of the knight, Ponkert didn't trust his pain-clouded senses, and he had no wish of announcing his naked presence to the world.

Pausing momentarily to push away the dizziness that threatened to drown him in unconsciousness once again, he clung to the gnarled trunk and listened. Only the slight rustle of wind moving through the leaves met his ears. Regaining his balance, he began to move toward the edge of the forest where he and Terri had first seen Yngvi and his troop ride up. Cat-like he slipped from the cover of one thick trunk to another, until a faint moaning sound drew his attention.

A quick investigation and Ponkert had located the girl he sought. Terri was bound spread-eagled between two trees. Both her wrists and ankles were tightly held by strips of taut rawhide. She, too, was naked and it was obvious Yngvi and his playmates had taken their pleasure before leaving. Her head bung forward, her champagne-coloured hair matted across her firm, proud breasts. Likewise the golden fleece covering her cunt was plastered over her vulva with dried sexual juices. Silvery paths of sperm tracks ran down the soft white interior of her thighs.

Within moments, Ponkert had worked through the leather bonds with his teeth and fingernails and had carried the semi-conscious girl to a mossy bed on the bank of a nearby stream. The remnants of Terri's frock and the cool, clear water formed a soothing compress which he applied to her forehead.

The girl stirred as he bathed her face. Her legs opened slightly and she murmured as if lost in a dream, "No... Please... Not again. Please... Please... NO... Oh, please... Please... Yes... Yess... "

Then she was awake, her eyes flashing wide open and recognizing Ponkert crouched beside her.

"Milord, what happened? I remember Yngvi and his thugs making sport with me--and then everything went black," she said, rolling to her side as if trying to hide her abused sex from his eyes. "That must have been after the third or fourth time I came... "

She quickly bit her tongue and stared up at Ponkert with deep green eyes of innocence, fully realizing she had revealed the pleasure she had found in the mass rape. Ponkert smiled down at the nude beauty, relieved she was none the worse for the encounter. Gently he bent down and lightly kissed her lips.

"We had better get moving," he urged softly. "I need to find my landing craft and arm myself in case your employer and his nasty friends should decide to return."

Terri's long-fingered hands ran over his broad, bare shoulders then down his arms. "Milord's arms are just fine! Why do you want more? Will it make you more, a man?"

Ponkert scooted back, blocking an attempt by the girl to move her fingers to his loins. He mentally grinned, knowing that despite her recent multiple rapes, Terri's sexual hunger had not been sated. While he had to admit her offering was hard to resist, the thought that the black knight might return put a damper on any romp in the hay at this moment.

"Never mind that, wench! Let's make tracks!" he scowled, letting a sharp swat of his hand on her pert ass cheeks form the exclamation point to his command.

Terri whimpered, more disappointed than hurt, and sat up. Ponkert glanced around, then spoke, "Where are the rest of your clothes? Hell, where are mine?"

"Sir Yngvi, the louse, took them," the blonde scullery maid answered. "All except for this pitiful rag."

She handed Ponkert the wet compress he had used. The Earthman accepted it with shrugging shoulders.

"Not much to work with, is it?" he smiled weakly. "But then, we can't go running around bare-ass naked, now can we?"

"Why not, Milord Ponkert?" Terri insisted.

"I'd get tired of fighting off all the young studs that would be wanting to ravish you," Ponkert sighed, letting his eyes trace the delectably desirable curves of Terri's well-developed body.

The girl's green eyes rolled to his. "Milord is too kind."

"Stop fishing for compliments," he ordered. "We need some sort of clothing. And you may drop the 'milord' stuff. Just call me Chad!"

"Chad," she seemed to whisper, obviously enjoying the sound of the name, then reached up and took back the still wet rag Ponkert held in his hand.

Five minutes later, she had slithered into a crudely fashioned g-string that did little to hide the inviting bulge of her sex. After convincing Ponkert it wasn't unusual for women to go about bare-breasted in her country, she used the remaining fabric to construct an equally revealing loin cloth for him. Quickly the Earthman slipped into the garment, ignoring the wetness that clung to his balls.

Pulling the jiggling-titted girl to her feet, Ponkert made his way to the glade where his escape pod had touched down. A hasty check showed it would never leave the ground again. The main venturi had ruptured and the internal power supply had shorted out, fusing most of the intricate solid state circuitry.

From the cockpit of the small craft, he retrieved a laser pistol and a signal beacon. The hard plastic and polyurethane foam used for the interior could add nothing to their skimpy clothing. Slamming the airlock shut, he fiddled with the compact signal beacon. A small green dot appeared at the extreme edge of the screen, pinpointing the location of Jan's misguided landing. The signal was several hundred kilometers to the north. Ponkert had a long, arduous journey ahead of him before he would again see his lovely copilot.

"Milor--Chad, if I might suggest, we can go to my father's inn. I want nothing more to do with Yngvi or his scullery."

Since there were no better offers, Ponkert replied, "Yes. Yngvi is a louse. Lead on, fair lady!"

Terri's green eyes sparkled and she started off toward a small rise to the north. Her coral-tipped jugs bounced freely to and fro. Ponkert willingly followed. No matter what Terri's family was like, at the moment he had no better place to go.

The trek to the inn, about ten kilometers as best the Earthman could estimate, was uneventful. The caravansary, as Terri explained, was located on a main trade route between two small kingdoms. Luckily, none of the numerous caravans Terri described were en route this evening. Despite his laser, Ponkert felt more than a little naked in this new world.

As they approached the two-story wooden inn, a series of rather high-pitched screams, definitely coming from a woman, followed by several large crashes met their ears. Grabbing Ponkert's hand, Terri trotted forward to the commotion coming from the interior of the building.

Throwing the door open, it took Ponkert but a fraction of a second to take in the scene inside. A fight was in progress. An aproned man, obviously Terri's father, was vigorously fending off the blades of three scurrilous-looking men with an iron fireplace poker.

"Highwaymen!" Terri gasped at his side.

As Ponkert stepped into the room, the innkeeper raised the poker and squarely bashed it into the head of one of his opponents. The attacker crumpled to the floor with a loud howl, then remained still, blood pooling around his head. However, one of the remaining two robbers lunged forward, jarring the innkeeper's weapon from his hand. The helpless man just managed to duck and evade the two blades that sought his throat. Steel thudded into the rough log wall of the inn as the innkeeper scurried away.

As the two highwaymen yanked their blades free, Ponkert rushed forward and grabbed one of the mens' wrists. Retaining a tight hold on the brawny arm, he twisted to his left and tugged downward. The simple application of a little leverage sent the assailant sprawling on his back on the wooden floor of the inn.

Without hesitating, Ponkert followed through his attack, dropping to one knee beside the downed man. Using his fisted hand like a hammer, he delivered a sharp atemi-waza blow to his opponent's exposed throat. A gurgling noise came from the man's mouth, followed by blood that trickled from his lips and nostrils. With his windpipe crushed, the robber would be of no further menace.

Ponkert cast a quick glance over his shoulder. The other swordsman stood behind him, his blade swinging in a high arc above his head--a blow, if ended, that would split Ponkert's head like some hollow gourd.

Almost in reflex action, the half-naked Earthman dived to the side as the blue-steel sword descended. The metal sang in a high- pitched whine as it fell through empty air that had once held its intended victim. So close was his escape from the deadly bite, that Ponkert felt the hair being shaved from his biceps.

Rolling on his shoulders in one smooth ukemi movement, Ponkert came upright and stood face-to-face with his would-be assassin. The highwayman had recovered from his empty blow and advanced. He held the wicked blade in a two-hand grasp before him. A self-assured smile of victory twisted his lips evilly.

With a loud cry, the bandit swung the razor-sharp sword over his head again and charged. As the honed length of death arced downward, Ponkert launched forward and caught one of the man's massive wrists in a perfect seoi-nage, the Earthman twisted into his assailant, throwing him over his shoulder.

To complete his attack, Ponkert, still grasping the fallen man's arm, twisted in a violent application of kansetu-waza. The joint-rending action was all that was needed to break the swordsman's arm at the elbow.

His chest heaving, the loin-clothed Earthman stepped back and viewed the results of many hours of judo and karate training. The fight had lasted less than a minute, though Ponkert, living it in the slow motion timelessness of a trained fighter, felt as if the encounter had lasted for hours.

Suddenly Terri was all over him. Her arms were tightly wound around his neck and her lips kissed wetly over his face between flourishes of praises of his strength and courage. Through the golden forest of her tresses, Ponkert watched his last opponent limp from the inn, clutching his mangled arm.

"Get away from him, you oversexed wench!" a loud voice belonging to the girl's father boomed. "I might have known my ugly daughter would come home with a common street brawler!"

The aproned innkeeper was beside them, his arms wrenching them apart--an action which Ponkert felt showed a definite lack of gratitude on the man's part. After all, he had just been saved from being skewered on the wrong end of a sword--or maybe two swords.

But before the Earthman could protest, Terri was bubbling forth a story of how Ponkert had met and defeated Sir Yngvi and fourteen of his men, chased them back to the black knight's iron castle and threatened their castration if they ventured from behind the walls again. As she went on, Ponkert was amazed to learn he was a king from some far off province on a sacred quest. He also learned his clothing was lost in a single-handed attack of the equivalent of a fire-breathing dragon.

Ponkert watched the man's face soften from a hard visage, then absolutely glow with pleasure when Terri mentioned something to the effect that the Earthman was a king from a distant land.

A wide grin splitting his face, the innkeeper slapped Ponkert on his bare back, "Milord, 'tis a pleasure for my humble house to be visited by royalty. I am called Vern Hogar and I would be greatly honored if you would deign to accept my simple hospitality. 'Tis not often I can claim that a king slept within my inn."

"I'm afraid Terri exaggerated a bit... " Ponkert began, then paused as the glow on Hogar's face started to fade. Realizing a few more words could return him to the status of a "common street brawler" he continued, "... I didn't lose my clothes fighting a dragon. But they were so scorched, I was embarrassed to be seen in them with such a beautiful lady as your daughter. So I discarded them!"

Somehow the story just didn't seem to fit right with him, but Hogar was delighted, which was all that mattered.

"By all the gods of Ulfbom, you must rule a woman-poor kingdom to think Terri the least bit attractive," Hogar laughed, once more applying a friendly, but stinging slap to Ponkert's back. "But a king is a king and I'll not dispute your word. But you must see my other daughter, Letti."

The innkeeper called out. Immediately a second girl hastened into the room from the kitchen, where she had apparently hidden during the fight. Ponkert was hard-pressed to believe the sight that met his eyes. This gorgeous creature was a carbon copy of the girl still clinging around his neck! The same flowing blonde hair, the deep, emerald green eyes that danced with light, and the same fabulous body. His balls did some nice-feeling flip-flops. An old twentieth century advertising slogan flashed through his mind, "Double your pleasure, double your fun!"

From the corner of his eye, Ponkert noticed Terri's mouth turn up slightly with disapproval at the gaze he had given her sister. But a quick light kiss remedied the frown.

"... and you must realize that Terri will bed anything that wears pants because she is so poorly endowed. At first I took you to be another one of the riffraff she brings home. But a king, even of a small province--that's a different story!"

Hogar still babbled on, "If it would not offend you, sir, I have a fine set of clothing which I took in payment for a room from a nobleman down on his luck. I also have an old, but sturdy mankil left by the same nobleman which should prove to be a fine mount for your sacred quest, whatever it be. It's the least I can do to repay you for saving my hide, not to mention my gold, from the highwaymen."

Ponkert didn't protest as the innkeeper maneuvered him away from Terri and up a small flight of stairs to a room.

"Make this your home while you are here," Hogar said. "The nobleman's clothes are bundled in the corner."

As the man left, Ponkert entered and found his new attire spread across a chair. He chuckled to himself as he donned the rather gaudy black and white checkered trousers that fit him like tights. The loose blouse-like shirt, complete with puffed sleeves, was red. To top off the strange costume, there was a bright yellow cape, which he swirled to his shoulders with a flare that would have put Errol Flynn to shame.

Feeling somewhat like a clown, but thoroughly enjoying the medieval garb, Ponkert slid his feet into black knee boots, then strode back down to the main room of the inn like a strutting rooster.

The praises that came from Terri and Letti and their father seemed to be a little too much, but Ponkert didn't mind. Nor did his ego suffer as they led him to a wooden table and proceeded to array a feast of delectable meats and tasty vegetables before him. Although he couldn't identify one of them, the meat was fantastic; so was the service provided by the twin sisters. Ponkert suppressed the urge to order one of the girls to peel him a grape.

After the sisters cleared the remains of the meal away, Hogar placed a large earthen jar on the table, then seated himself opposite the Earthman. The wine, a transparent orange and quite tasty, flowed as the sisters returned with four mugs. Ponkert listened to the innkeeper's bawdy stories and laughed in the appropriate places. He also managed to learn the planet's name from the man--Keller. The mankil, which the innkeeper had given him as part of his reward, turned out to be Keller's equivalent of a horse, only with six legs.

After awhile, Hogar grew silent and Ponkert, in turn, told tales of his own. Every word of them were lies, but then no one seemed to mind. Ponkert silently thanked Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard and Caer Ged for their tales of derring-do, from which he drew heavily.

As the log in the fireplace had turned to embers and due to the considerable amount of wine under his belt, the Earthman was finally allowed to be excused. Taking his arm, the still half- nude Terri helped him up the stairs and into his room. Somewhere below he heard the door to the inn open and another visitor enter, but he paid little attention to it.

Instead his complete attention was given to the woman who had begun undressing him. Terri's fingertips traced all sorts of soft, warm patterns over his body as an extra touch, while she stripped the gaudy costume from him.

As she neatly folded his clothes over a chair, Ponkert pulled back the covers on the massive four-posted bed that filled most of his small room and slipped in. Smiling at her self-made king, Terri's fingers tucked beneath her rag briefs. Watching his eyes following her movements, she wiggled her full, jutting hips slightly and slithered from the g-string. For a few moments she posed for his admiring eyes, allowing him a total view of her obvious attributes.

Then in a tit bouncing little leap she was on the bed with him, her arms around his neck. Accepting the invitation, he pulled the willing girl to him. Her mountainous mammaries flattened against his naked chest as their lips met.

Easing his tongue into her mouth, he explored the dark, sweet harbor with an intensity that grew and grew. He felt her teeth gently nibble at his probe. Teasingly, he withdrew, then thrust back playfully, duelling with her moist pink tongue. Urgently, his arms tightened around her, locking them together as their tongues twirled and twined and danced madly over each other.

When he broke for a deep breath, he allowed his teeth to nip tauntingly at her lips. She moaned and quivered, shoving her body even closer to his nakedness. Sliding a leg out from under the covers, he maneuvered it between her thighs. The wetness of her excitement welled from her cunt moistening his knee. Gently, he rubbed his leg into the wanton mound.