Chapter 2

The young friends finished their meal and parted ways for the evening. Bryce was needed back at the bridge guard tower for duty, until the caravan was unloaded down at the southern warehouse, and Boyle wanted to be back at the stables to look over the horses. He would have a busy night attending to them, especially the injured ones, and he would likely also spend much, if not all, of his day tomorrow helping to repair any damage to the wagons. Half-day of scheduled work or not, Boyle was likely to be kept quite busy until Free-day, the day after next, and without the hope of a few extra coins to make up for his overtime. Perhaps he'd hear some more merchants discussing trade secrets while the horses were being unhitched. Boyle always seemed to find a way to turn adversity into profit, or at least amusement.

Rowan, himself, had other plans for his free time, hopefully with the lovely Cedany. Since her work schedule with the Lady was much more uncertain than his, she regularly sent short written notes to the bridge guard tower, where Bryce or another of Rowan's friends could deliver the message to him. Returning to the bridge guard tower, he asked Lieutenant Robrick, who was checking on the reports of the caravan with Sergeant Arard, if there had been any message from her today, sent from the castle. Bryce often said that his boss was a good leader and a veteran of many fights in the savage wilderness. Originally born as a mere peasant himself, Robrick never let his promotion to an officer give him any airs, and he was an always pleasant visitor whenever Rowan saw him in the village. Usually, when just 'amongst the lads' his carefully learned, polished city-speak devolved back into the plain normal rural speaking habits he had been born with.

"Indeed so, in fact, the messenger bought it not ten minutes ago." The kindly Lieutenant stated. "The Duke himself rode past not a minute after that, and ordered everything locked down tight! He was in a right fearful state. Bandits on the road, he said. One of 'em had the nerve even to put a few arrows into the side of his private coach. Cheeky bastards! I hope they have the sense to move-on and stay gone. The Duke will be in a right 'orrible temper, if there are any further attacks. He's going to have to send near every man he can find, as it is, to send up to the north of the lake. Captain heard that something burned down Greave's Fort, right up next to the falls, on the night before. Killed every soldier and burned the place down, they did. Lots of blood in pools left there, they say ... but no bodies. Not a one, they're all gone. Mind that you don't go about repeating that story in town just yet. The Duke wants the whole mess kept quiet until 'e can decide what to do. Young Bryce thinks highly of you, and I think rather highly of him. He's going to make Sergeant in another year or two, if I have any say in the matter. If the Duke were in any right proper state of mind to think, he ought to be calling up the army and grabbing conscripts, and he'll get around to that idea in another day or two. You go enjoy your evening with your pretty little gal, 'cause things is gonna be getting plenty ugly around here soon! War! And a bad one, my gut be tellin' me ... one to tell your children and grandchildren about if you get lucky and survive it all. So enjoy your lovely lady while you can, 'cause in another week or two it's gonna be boots, a sword and army rations for you, if you're not so lucky." He gave Rowan a leer and a wink and then a bit of a salute to bid the puzzled lad a good night.

Rowan walked back to the tavern to sit and think for a few minutes, and to digest the sudden news that he had received. The Lieutenant didn't quite rank highly enough to hear the Duke's counsels directly, but his boss, Captain Thierd did ... and couldn't keep a secret if his life depended upon it. His wife, Uma, was, in fact, the primary village source for gossip about anything and everything that was happening inside the castle. If Robrick said it was true, then even the most obstinate gambler in town wouldn't have bet against his news. If one of the northern coastal lake forts had been sacked, then war was certain. Either in a few days or a few weeks at most; even the dithering Duke couldn't postpone for long that important of a decision.

Cedany would need to be told that he would be likely to be conscripted, hopefully to labor as a weapon or armor smith rather than as a common soldier, but even that relatively safe duty could most seriously interfere with their already interrupted wedding plans even more!

Her note to him was quite short, but it bore happy news.

"The Duke has returned tonight, and the Lady Ayleth should soon release me and her other attendants for the night. She will not require me any further this evening, so what time I have is yours. Meet you at the usual place, after my bath, which I hope to head towards at once."

This was most happy news, indeed. The Lady often required a companion or two, often Cedany, who was one of her most favorites, to remain with her at night in her bedchamber. Most other nights, she was often required to remain nearby in an adjoining bedroom, to be available for assistance with the Lady's early morning ablutions and dress. Her mention of a bath was his cue to meet her soon for a swim together in the middle of Lily Lake, their favorite trysting spot this summer. Hopefully, her father would not be expecting her home this evening ... or at least not soon.

In the near total darkness of the lake shoreline, Rowan swiftly undressed himself and, nearly effortlessly and with almost no discernable sound, he slid into the river. With a quick prayer of thanks that the moon was dim, he swam slowly and nearly effortlessly through the ever-present clumps of water lilies until he reached the center of the very slow moving, torpid and quite shallow river, which was still quite warm from the day's heat. He was a very strong swimmer and often enjoyed early morning and late evening swims for both cleanliness, pleasure, and a stout bit of exercise to loosen his tired arms and shoulders after a long hard day at the forge.

The village side of the river shoreline at night, was a common place for the young lovers to meet to court (and often bed) their loved ones. Rowan was not the only suitor in the river that night, as he heard some loud splashing from further downstream closer to the bridge. This spot, near the start of the shallows that pooled into the lake near the furthest northeastern dock, was a relatively private section little used by other couples. He and Cedany should have all of the privacy they could want.

After about ten minutes of quiet floating and contemplation, Rowan now heard some faint splashing from the darkness of the further shore, and a few minutes later the tired, but happy, face of Cedany bobbed out of the water before him, and the two lovers embraced into a long and slow kiss. Like him, she was naked and her soft and smallish breasts pressed firmly against him. He fancied that he could even feel her soft and sparse pubic hair pressed up against his flaccid cock.

The lovers held and kissed, and gently murmured their sighs of affection and love for each other. Soon their hands delved under the water, to caress and fondle the other in their more private places. For now, they were and still remained virgins to each other's most intimate embrace, but their passion and ardor was hot, scarcely cooled at all by the gentle flowing river waters.

Cedany wanted nothing more than to leap up into her lover's arms and wrap her legs firmly about his waist, gently causing him to enter her and take that last remaining tiny bit of her love that he did not already possess, but instead, she held to her purpose and duty and broke away from their clutch, before her erotic needs became too overpowering. With a giggle, she splashed away from him, teasing her lover to follow and chase her. As Rowan was the much stronger swimmer, he could have easily caught her ... but that would have spoiled the game. They chased each other, embraced again and quietly laughed and kissed, and when their patience was exhausted they scampered out of the water and onto the grassy riverbank to caress and hold each other more firmly and intimately.

As they had not dared to publically declare their troth-vows, due to the opposition of both her father and the great Lady that she served, the lovers had never dared to consume their love via vaginal intercourse, due to the fears of what harm a pregnancy out of marriage could do to them. Cedany knew of a certain leaf that when chewed tended to discourage the conception of children, and at the age of nineteen, this drug was considered relatively safe to use, but she didn't trust that a mishap still might occur. Both her father and her mistress were of a spiteful nature at times, and it was not at all unlikely that, in the event of an accidental pregnancy, both could be expelled from the village nearly penniless, and without Rowan's final Master's certification. Independent as he was, Master Gorge would not dare to directly defy both the vengeful headsman and the Duke's only daughter as well, if their anger was great.

Instead, the lovers had found other, safer means of satisfying their physical needs and token means of reaffirming their love and physical affection for the other. Falling as nearly one to the warm soft grass, Cedany wasted little time in taking Rowan's engorged cock into her hands and expertly stroking it with her small delicate fingers until it was as hard and thick as she could make it. Often, if they were publically having just a quick casual meeting during the day in the river, she could, and often would, stroke him skillfully under the waters until he ejaculated, and he would do much the same for her at the same time, with his fingers twiddling her small but very responsive clit. While public nudity was commonplace, open and conspicuous public sex in daylight was a different matter and considered to be quite rude. Tonight, alone under the cover of darkness, they would be free to fully express their love, in any manner that they wished.

It was not considered a disgrace for a woman to not still be a virgin for her wedding, at least not according to most of the villagers and past tradition, other than the whim of Father Lankfred, who considered sex, even in marriage, to be a terrible sin against his stern and unforgiving God. Oral sex was quite common among the unmarried youths of the village, and this act was not regarded as an especially serious or irrevocable step in a relationship. If a couple wished to extend their sexual activities and formalize their relationship further, then usually anal sex was the next stage, rather than vaginal intercourse. Swanford's talented local wise-woman Ethrell, aptly handled most of the feminine health complaints and other midwife duties, but she normally frowned upon providing contraceptive leaf, or worse abortive herbs to the younger ladies, who had not been having their courses for at least three years, and for health concerns she thought that at least five years would be even better and safer still. Some lads obtained cock sheaths made from pig or lamb intestines, much like sausage casings, but Cedany didn't quite trust them either to keep her womb secure from bearing a child prematurely, and without the proper consideration that such an important step was due.

Custom in the Southern Duchies was that a male lover could avail himself of no more than two of a woman's orifices without a declaration of troth, formal or otherwise implied. Upon her very oath that her lover had taken her in every possible manner, the couple could be declared as married by the common law, despite the claims or wishes of her new husband. If her lover then swore an oath to the contrary, the matter would be settled by the village elders or town judge. So far, Cedany and Rowan had remained content with just oral and anal sex.

Soon Rowan's cock had swollen to its fullest, and it was indeed one of the very largest manhood specimens that Cedany had ever seen in the village, from her casual knowledge of watching of other men at bath or at furtive play with their own lovers. It was too large, in fact, for her to comfortably accommodate inside of her bottom. On special occasions, such as holy days, she allowed Rowan to penetrate and use her ass for his pleasure, but the experience was always one of discomfort rather than enjoyment to her, and Rowan never insisted upon this special treat as a regular habit. Still, she was more than willing to do this service for him that he might have other means of pleasure with her.

Tonight, she had other simpler and more normal delights in mind, and she slowly swirled her tongue around his cock in ever wider and slower circles until at last, when his member was twitching with overstimulation, she lowered her mouth over his cockhead, and she began to vigorously suck him to his first orgasm. As the lovers could only meet irregularly during this summer, while the Lady was in residence at the castle, it usually didn't take much stimulus or sucking for Rowan to spurt his first load of semen into her mouth and onto her eager waiting tongue. With a pert kiss on his cockhead, and then his stomach, Cedany smiled and audibly swallowed his cum-load with pleasure and obvious delight. Then, with a giggle, she rolled onto her back and spread her legs wide, so that Rowan could return the favor by eating her.

Like his first ejaculation of the evening, it never took long at all for her to achieve orgasm, and, within minutes, she had to bite her fingers hard in order to avoid loudly screaming out her pleasure, for anyone else nearby to hear. Far from stopping, Rowan's tongue only worked her clit over harder and faster, now, until she had two further smaller but equally satisfying releases almost in a row, one right after the other.

With an equally loving kiss upon her clit and slight pubic mound, he snuggled up into her arms once more, and the two lovers kissed and held each for happily for quite a long time.

"Do you need to be home soon?" He asked.

"No. Father will spend half of the night commiserating with the Duke that the raid on the caravan was just a slight, singular misfortune, unlikely to ever be repeated, so no further measures or actions will need to be taken. My father is such an ass ... and a blind fool sometimes!"

"Have you spoken to him about us recently?"

"Not since we last met last weekend, over the holy days. He is still adamant and resolved that I shall marry some noble, squire or minor knight of the Duchy - anything else would be an unforgiveable travesty in his eyes. I'm worried, now that the Duke has come for the rest of the summer, that father will soon bend him to his mind on this matter, and that the two of them will have me married off before the autumn solstice. The Lady Ayleth is already hinting that in the fall I will accompany her back to their castle in Tellismere, that I am to join her official ladies-in-waiting there as well."

"Well, that would be a great honor for you." Rowan said with approval that he didn't honestly feel. "You will be given some sort of minor title, a honorarium or perhaps some small lands that will earn coin for you, not to mention all of the silk dresses and gowns. You would become truly a Lady!"

"And I would be at least a hundred leagues away from you, and see you but a few months next summer ... assuming the treacherous witch doesn't force me to marry some army officer before then! No, my love ... I would far rather remain near you!"

"Knowing your father and the weaknesses of the Duke, I wouldn't at all be surprised at this. But what can we do? Father Lankfred is also dead against our marriage as well, and I can easily see that bitter priest joining in lock-step with any plan that would marry you out of this village, and out of the erotic temptation of its men, at the earliest possible moment. You're so beautiful that he feels it must be a terrible sin against his stern and unforgiving God. You know he calls you a 'harlot' and a 'wanton whore' behind your back, despite my threats to beat him soundly for the insult."

"He does... , but he's just a wicked little petty man, who is angry that he is stuck in a small village far away from anything important. He believes that we all still fervently worship all of the old banished Gods, more devoutly than his own grim God... , and we probably do. From all I have heard or read, they were mostly a kindlier lot than the sour and paranoid one we are left with now. Still, we must prepare for the worst. I would defy my father and my Lady's orders as well, if you but asked it of me. With you by my side, I would gladly accept exile from our village and together we could eventually find or make a new home far from here in another land."