DISCLAIMER: See Part 1
This story is a sequel to the stories “Lord Conqueror of the Realm,” "Queen of the Realm," and "Princess of the Realm." I strongly recommend you read them first because in this story there are references to events that took place in them. Here is where you can find them:
http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/warriorjudge_lordconqueror1.html
http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/warriorjudge_queenoftherealm1.html
http://www.academyofbards.org/fanfic/w/warriorjudge_princessoftherealm1.html
The third story of the Realm series "Princess of the Realm" can now be found on an Ebook format as well – for free. (epub, MOBI, PDF) on the Xena Library web site. It is listed under the LORD CONQUEROR OF THE REALM SERIES, so scroll down to the L's.
http://www.xenalibrary.com/ebooklibrary.htm
SPECIAL THANKS : My humble most ardent gratitude to the excellent, most brilliant Beta reader Nancyjean , whom I can't thank enough.
Comments, thoughts, questions & feedback : MOST WELCOMED – The more you write me, the quicker I post – I mean it!
Part 8
The following morning, before down, the First Queen dismissed her ladies in waiting and thanked them for their years of loyal service to her. Inconsolable, all six Noblewomen wept as they embraced their beloved Mistress.
Soon after daybreak, escorted by their family, the first Conqueror and Queen made their way to the Imperial Seaport to board the ship that would carry them in their journey to the Nordic Lands. Athena, Sieglinde and Terreis were torn. On the one hand they were happy for their parents' impending grand adventure and freedom of their stations, but on the other hand they were sad to see them leave for they would be sorely missed. Tears were shed at the docks by all. They lingered there holding each other in their arms, giving salty kisses and collecting them.
"Do not forget to take care of the lions and train them," the Conqueror said to her Heir.
"Ah, yes… your lions…" Athena said with a smirk.
"They are your lions now," the Conqueror chuckled.
"Are you sure you do not wish me to send a male and a female to Thira for when you have returned from your journey?"
"The isle is not big enough to host a menagerie and I cannot allow them to run loose for fear they might devour the locals."
They all laughed.
"I have never trained them..." Athena remarked.
"You've seen me do it often enough. Be who you are and they will recognize you for who you are," the Conqueror suggested and smiled a half smile. The Conqueror then pulled her eldest aside for a few words in private.
"I am grateful to you for resolving the matter between Terreis and me," she whispered.
"Think nothing of it, Sire," Athena replied with an uncharacteristic modesty .
"Nevertheless, I am thankful. I wanted to sort things out with her myself, but your Mother advised me against it."
"Then Mother's advice to you was sound, Sire," Athena said, "for Terreis has disrespected you and it was not for you to explain yourself to her but the other way around."
The Conqueror rested her hand over her Heir's shoulder. "Remember everything I taught you and do not forget to spare no expenses when it comes to paying your spies. They are your eyes and ears in the Realm and a good piece of information can be as valuable to you as an entire legion can."
"I will not forget, Sire and I will keep all our spies well paid and contented. I promise."
"And be sure to oversee the completion of the new aqueducts… and make it known throughout the Realm for they've cost a fortune."
"By your will."
Meanwhile, Sieglinde presented her Mother-in-laws with woolen bodices made by her own hand to keep them warm in the Nordic Lands and she reminded them once more of all the places they ought to visit.
Terreis nestled in her parents' engulfing arms and wished them a safe journey. And last but not least, the Conqueror picked up her grandchildren and both she and their Grandmother smothered them with countless kisses. Both Alexia and Lyceus promised to be good and study hard and returned their Grandparents' kisses.
When the Conqueror put her grandchildren down, her wife told her with bright eyes, "I love the way you love them, my Lord."
And with that, they boarded their ship and from the deck both waved goodbye to their family.
***
During her first year of reign, Queen Sieglinde decreed that in each Province of the Realm an orphanage should be built. She received her audience in the Queen's chambers and was a model of generosity, virtue and wisdom to all her subjects. Those who compared her with the first Queen believed that Queen Sieglinde did not fall short. Her subjects adored her and those closer to her loved her.
During Athena the Conqueror's first year of reign, a man by the name of Hordos rose in Jerusalem in the land of Judea who appointed himself king of the Jews. When the Conqueror first heard his name, she was sitting on her Throne in the Great Hall surrounded by her advisors, a few of her generals, her clerks and some of the Realm's nobility who had business in her court that day.
Antipas, one of her advisors, an elderly wise man who had been her Sire's trusted and highly regarded advisor, as well, was the one who told her about him.
"The land of Judea , you say?" she asked him as her fury began to consume her. "That's in the Province of Syria , is it not?"
"Indeed, your Majesty," he replied. "It was the Governor of the Province of Syria who has alerted us, your Majesty. His letter to your Majesty has arrived just a short while ago."
"How dare he?!" the Conqueror landed her tight fist on the armrest of her Throne.
"It is not all, your Majesty," Antipas continued.
"What else is there?!" she demanded to know, livid. Inwardly she recalled what her Sire had told her about her subjects testing her.
"Contrary to your Majesty's law, he permitted his fellow Jews to sell their daughters into slavery as is permitted to them by the doctrine of their religion."
"Their religion allows them to sell their daughters into slavery?" the Conqueror asked with a rise of her brow.
"It would appear so, Majesty," Antipas answered with a small voice, knowing full well that that fact would further inflame his Master's ire.
"What kind of a religion is this?!" the Conqueror muttered. All present knew she was not expecting an answer.
After a few moments had gone by while all waited for their Master's words, the Conqueror continued resolutely, "Have him seized immediately and brought before me forthwith."
"By your will, Majesty," the seasoned advisor confirmed her order.
"And get me one of their scholars," she commanded.
"Yes, your Majesty," he confirmed.
"Best he'd be a converted one for a converted one might bear ill-feelings towards them and therefore better inclined to assist us in good faith."
"A very wise decision, your Majesty."
"And I wish to know everything about this man, Hordos – What he thinks, what he eats, who his friends are, who he fucks – Everything!"
By the time Hordos had been apprehended and taken to Corinth , the Conqueror was well versed in the doctrine of the foreign religion and well prepared to confront the man who'd dared defy her.
He was shoved into the Great Hall by the Chief Commander of the Imperial Guard. The shackles around his neck, hands and feet clunked with each push, drawing to him the attention of all in attendance. It took some time before he reached the dais, as his advancement was comprised of very small strides on account of the shackles on his feet.
The Conqueror paid no attention to him but appeared to be engrossed in a conversation with one of her advisors.
Only when the Chief Commander of the Imperial Guard cleared his throat did she avert her eyes to her prisoner.
"And who is this?" she asked casually, despite the fact that she knew only too well who he was, thus stressing to him just how insignificant she thought him to be.
"Hordos, Majesty," the Commander answered. Then he turned his attenttion to the prisoner and said in Latin, "Bend your knees before your Master, dog!"
"I kneel before no one but the one true God whom I dread and worship," the prisoner replied defiantly in Latin.
The Chief Commander of the Imperial Guard kicked the prisoner's calf and with a push to his shoulder violently forced him down to his knees.
"And where does this one true God of yours reside?" the Conqueror asked him in Latin as well with a touch of mockery in her voice. Like her Sire, she had a short span of patience towards religious zealotry.
"In the heavens," Hordos answered.
"I think I am beginning to get an insight into your gross misconception," the Conqueror told him. "For regardless of the heavens - on this earth – I am the only true God you need fear!"
Hordos spat on the ground to show his contempt, When the Chief Commander of the Imperial Guard raised his arm to strike him, the Conqueror upheld her hand, signaling him to refrain from delivering a corporal punishment for Hordos' insolence, for she knew that her victory over him must first be that of mind and will over his.
"I have heard some disconcerting tales about the selling of daughters to slavery in the Land of Judea . Tell me – are you not familiar with my law?"
"I am," he replied, as inwardly he tried his best to assess the Conqueror and understand why she had prevented her Commander from beating him for his lack of respect – for by all accounts, the Ruler of the Realm subdued others by force. "However, I follow the law of God and by God's law one can sell his daughters into slavery."
"Only the daughters?!" she asked without a shred of surprise in her voice. "Not the sons?!"
"Yes," he replied and all present gasped.
"And why is that?" the Conqueror asked though she already knew the answer. She did not wish to let her prisoner realize that she knew much more that she'd led on just yet.
"We have a commandment to honor our father and mother, and sons are more likely to defy their fathers and break that commandment should they be sold into slavery. No such risks exist as far as daughters are concerned," he explained.
"I see," the Conqueror said thoughtfully and rubbed her chin. "Tell me, according to your God's law - what is the penalty for a wife who commits adultry?"
"Death," he answered.
"And if the husband commits adultry?"
"There is no penalty."
It was then that Hordos realized that the Ruler was well versed in his religious beliefs.
"And how many wives can a man wed?"
"As many as he can afford to support."
"And how many husbands can a woman wed?"
"Only one."
"To better understand your God," the Conqueror continued her well-construed query, "what is the penalty for raping a woman?"
"If she is unwed then the man who took her must either marry the woman if she consents or pay her father a certain sum."
"A certain sum… just as he would have paid a certain sum to his neighbor if his dog had killed one of his neighbor's sheep," the Conqueror pressed on. "So it is akin to paying damages to the owner of the woman – her father."
Hordos was smart enough to realize the implication. "You do not understand… Keeping daughters is a financial hardsh--"
But before he finished his sentence, the Chief Commander slapped him hard across his face. "The Lord Conqueror did not invite you to speak, dog!"
"The argument you were about to make would not have helped you. Women are not chattel!" the Conqueror rebuked as she was sitting on the edge of her Throne. "My last question to you is," she said and leaned back against her Throne, "What must a man do before he takes eggs from the nest?"
"He must send away the mother bird so as not to cause it grief."
The Great Hall was quiet. All present understood the Conqueror's line of inquiry and comprehended the point she wished to make.
"Your God does not care much for women, does he?!" The Conqueror raised her voice. "He has compassion for a bird but not for a violated woman…"
All waited for the prisoner's reply but there was none forthcoming.
"According to your Torah – your God's words and laws – women are somewhere between a bird and a sheep."
Her audience laughed, but her countenance remained serious and angry, and so quickly enough all sniggers ceased.
"The fact that I rule the world as my Sire, the first Lord Conqueror of the Realm, did before me must be an affront to your God and to you!"
Hordos did not reply.
"These laws do not seem too godly to me. If I had to guess I'd venture to say these were man's handmade laws."
All present nodded their heads in agreement.
"My Sire has always told me," the Conqueror told her audience, "that whenever I encountered a man who belittled or oppressed women I ought to know that he was afraid of women and possessed a particularly small prick."
Her audience laughed again.
"The first Lord Conqueror in her generosity has given to all our subjects throughout the Realm the freedom to worship any god and practice any religion under the sun as long as it does not conflict with her law. My own wife, her Majesty the Queen, worships different Gods than me. How dare you abuse this freedom?!"
Hordos had no words to offer.
"According to my law, if a man rapes a woman he will rot in prison for the rest of his life and if a soldier of the Realm rapes a woman the penalty is death. By my law, slavery is forbidden and it is punishable by death. Women and men are equal under my law."
After a few moments had gone by in silence, the Conqueror continued her speech, "But this is not about religion. It is about power!"
"I do not know what…"
"You will shut your foul mouth when your Lord and Master speaks!" the Chief Commander of the Imperial Guard berated him.
The Conqueror spoke in Aramaic, "Dinna de malchute - Dinna."
None in the Great Hall understood what the Conqueror had said – none but one. It was then for the first time since he had set foot in her Hall that the Conqueror saw fear in Hordos' eyes.
"The law of the state - is law," the Conqueror translated for her audience. "According to the doctrine of your faith, if your people live under the rule of others then you must abide by that ruler's law as long as it does not compel you to act against that which is forbidden by the laws of your faith like laboring during the Sabath or worshiping another god."
The Conqueror rose her feet and climbed down the dais. She towered over her pale prisoner and said: "You permitted the selling of daughters into slavery for the sole purpose of gaining power amongst the men who share your faith - by winning their favors."
A sinister smile appeared on the Conqueror's lips. "Well, I intend to send a clear message to the people of Judea but first I shall sodomize you before I execute you and you are welcome to tell me if you believe paying a certain sum to your father is punishment enough!"
Hordos' execution was set to take place three days later. By her decree, the Legion in the Province of Syria swept through the Land of Judea to free all the women that had been sold into slavery and placed them all in the local orphange that had been built with accordance to the Queen's order.
True to her words and with her Sire's advice regarding being as ruthless as she had been during her reign in mind, the young Conqueror sodomized Hordos with a burning iron rod and tortured him severely before she carved the words 'Dinna de malchute, Dinna' in Aramaic into his back with a red hot blade and finally slitted his throat.
The Conqueror traveled to Jerusalem via the sea with the Queen at her side and the Imperial Guard aboard a ship along with a dozen of other ships from the Imperial fleet.
When they arrived at the seaport of Jaffa , they mounted their horses and rode to the city of Jerusalem and entered its gates. The Conqueror threw Hordos' skinned, maggot infested carcass at the center of the city within its walls and addressed her subjects in the Land of Judea who gathered around her in their masses: "Let this here dog you wished to place as king above you," she exclaimed and pointed her finger at his mutilated carcass at her feet, which was teeming with flies and made for a gruesome sight, "be a lesson to all of you. I am your only Ruler and you are to obey my law or die at my hand."
She then paused and looked at the women who stood at the back behind the men and aimed her speech at them. "Daughters of Israel – those of you who wish to become masters of your own fate are welcome to return back with me to Corinth to either be trained as soldiers of the Realm or be trained as healers in one of the many hospices or orphanages in the Realm. You will be safe and under my protection, free to practice your religion without the tyranny of men."
An extraordinary thing then happened. Scores of women pushed their way through the crowd and swarmed towards the Conqueror and curtsied before her.
The Conqueror was pleased and the Queen was very proud of her.
A few men tried to stop by force the women from joining the Conqueror.
The Conqueror noticed the commotion made by the men. "Imperial Guard!" she called out to her elite warriors, "You will remove the head of any man who grabs a woman and prevents her from leaving."
Escorted by the Imperial Guard, the Conqueror, the Queen and two thousand women traveled to the seaport of Jaffa , where they all boarded the ships that had been waiting there and travled back to Corinth .
In the following year a new Legion was assembled which received the name, ' The Conqueror's Legion of the Daughters of Israel ' and had the reputation of being one of the fiercest of all her Legions. To spite the men in the Land of Judea , the Conqueror deployed that Legion to the Land of Judea and no one dared to rise against them.
***
In the two years that followed, the First Conqueror and her wife traveled the world all the way from the chilling grand Fjords in the Nordic Lands, through the Pyramids in Egypt to the Lake of the Dragon in the Far East . The further from Corinth they went, the less people recognized them. They were well dressed and had ample funds to spend but they wore none of the things that could reveal their identity. The First Conqueror's seal ring was constantly kept in her pocket and the sword she wore on her thigh, though forged from the finest of steel, was a plain one. The First Queen wore none of her many extravagant jewelry, which she had left in Corinth, save for the green diamond ring that her Lord had given her when she had first professed her love for her in Thira, for it was too precious for her to leave behind. They relished the anonimity.
Once, while traveling in India , a band of thieves tried to rob them for the green diamond ring. The First Conqueror cut off an arm from each the men.
Some nights they spent in the finest inns along the road, some nights they enjoyed the hospitality of the nobility throughout the Realm, but most of all they enjoyed the nights they spent under the night skies with nothing but the pale light of the moon and the stars and their campfire, without another soul around them.
Meanwhile, in the Amazon Lands a profound affinity blossomed between the young queen and Aella. It had been sweet and tender in the beginning and gradually grew deeper until one evening, in the queen's hut, Aella, who was not much of a talker, told Terreis how she had felt when she had witnessed her riddled with battle-lust.
It took Terreis by surprise, for she would not have guessed it to look at Aella.
Aella was stoic and she carried herself much in the same way that Terreis' Sire and her Sibling did. Nevertheless, Aella revealed her feelings and from there - their nights were filled with steaming young passion and every caress was a discovery and every kiss was a promise.
And the first time that battle-lust was upon her, Terreis was glad that she had had the good sense to pack the phallus that her Sire had given her before she had returned to the Amazon Lands.
With the Queen's Labrys in her hand, she came to Aella, who was waiting obediently on her knees, and asked with a strained tone of voice, "Are you sure that this is what you want?"
"I crave it more than anything in the world, my Queen," Aella meekly replied.
That night between the sheets was nothing short of an ecstatic revelation, and after that night when battle-lust was no longer upon her, Terreis discovered that she equally desired to be on the receiving end of the phallus.
When the time came and because of her station, it was queen Terreis who asked Aella to join with her in marriage despite the fact that Aella had been wanting to ask her queen the very same thing for quite awhile.
Of course, due to her affiliation to the Throne in Corinth , she would have to secure the Second Lord Conqueror's permission to marry and the blessing of her Sire and Mother.
Messages were sent and the Royal family decided to meet on Amazon Lands.
Their reunion was a happy one. They had all shared their adventures and experiences until the wee hours of the night before the subject of Terreis' nuptials was brought up.
While Aella was sent for to join them, the first Conqueror took Terreis' hands in hers.
"Do you love her, little princess?" she asked with the softest of voices.
"With all my heart, Sire."
"Do you trust her?"
"With my life," Terreis replied.
"And does she love you?"
"She does."
"Does she respect you?"
"She reveres me as much as you revere Mother, Sire."
The First Conqueror looked at her wife. "What do you think, my Love?" she asked.
"I trust our daughter's judgment, my Lord," the First Queen answered without reservations.
"And you?" the First Conqueror deferred the question to her Heir.
"I say, I would first must see the one who won my young sister's heart and wishes to marry into our family," Athena replied. "And you, Min Damme?"
"Of course I would, Min Herre," Queen Sieglinde replied and nodded her head.
And then the door into the queen's hut was opened and in strode Aella. The tall Amazon warrior bowed before the Royal family.
Both generations of Royal couples examined her from head to toe.
"I am deeply honored to be in your presence, Majesties," she spoke with a deep, rich tone of voice.
"Do you think yourself worthy of my sister?" Athena the Conqueror asked.
"I know I am not, your Majesty. I very much doubt that there is a living soul on this earth worthy of my queen. Nevertheless, I dare love her despite myself," Aella answered.
"And what if I were to refuse your union, Amazon?" the Second Conqueror asked.
"Then I shall be contented with loving her from afar and never marry another and live the rest of my days without her."
The Second Conqueror rose swiftly to her feet and drew out her sword. "I should kill you where you stand for even contemplating the notion of marrying my sister," she growled and her face frowned.
In spite of her instincts and against who she was, Aella dropped to her knees as if she was cut down like a tree and knelt before the Second Conqueror, stretching out her neck to meet with the edge of the Second Conqueror's sword.
Terreis, however, darted from her seat and tried to stop Athena, but her Sire caught her and incapacitated her.
"Majesty," she cried with tears in her eyes, out of her mind with terror and grief, "I beg you!" she pleaded with her older Sister.
But Athena held up her hand to silence Terreis.
"Sire please! Mercy!" Terreis struggled against her Sire's vice-like grip but to no avail. She then turned to her mother and pleaded, "Mother, help!"
"Quiet," Athena exclaimed, "Mother won't help you against her Lord's will. There is no coming between them."
"Wait," her Sire whispered to her youngest as she fixed her probing attention on the Amazon .
"Kill me, your Majesty, for no life at all is better than life without her," Aella said in resignation and her voice was cracking. It was evident that she was prepared to depart from the world.
The Second Conqueror raised her sword and swiftly waved it downwards, cutting a lock of the Amazon's hair, which landed as softly as a feather next to the Amazon's knee. Aella could hear the air move from the strike next to her ear but she neither flinched nor recoiled. She did not move a muscle. Such was her accepting of her Master's verdict.
Terreis sighed a deep sigh of relief and felt her Sire's grip loosen.
"Rise, Aella." The Second Conqueror offered her hand to Aella.
The Amazon took the Second Conqueror's hand with all the awe her station commanded and rose to her feet. She was as white as snow and her knees trembled still, yet she appreciated her Ruler's gesture.
"I guess I ought to welcome you to our family, sister," the Second Conqueror said, rejoicing and fondly tapping on the tall Amazon's shoulder.
"I am humbled by your Majesty's generosity," Aella said with a faint voice, but the color began to return to her cheeks and her stoic eyes brightened like a couple of torches in the night.
"Thank you, Majesty," Terreis exclaimed and new tears, this time tears of joy, sprung from her eyes. She fell into Athena's arms and held her as hard as she possibly could.
After the union ceremony before the Shamaness, the Second Conqueror and the Second Queen returned back to Corinth . The First Conqueror and the First Queen continued roaming the world.
***
After securing the Second Conqueror's permission, Terreis located the boy who had started the fire that had nearly cost her, her life. Terreis thought he owed her life and the redheaded boy, who was a man now and served as a soldier in the Conqueror's army, agreed and was only too happy to oblige.
Meanwhile, four years of traveling had ended and the First Conqueror and the Queen returned back to the Amazon Lands for the birth of Terreis' daughter.
Terreis named her daughter Selene after the Moon Goddess. The child had reddish blond hair, forest green eyes and twin dimples in her cheeks. She was beautiful and was the living image of Terreis.
The First Conqueror and the First Queen had lingered in the Amazon Lands before they finally retired to their beloved Thira , for they could not part with their new granddaughter.
The morning after their return, they woke up to the sound of birds singing at their bedchamber window in their beautiful villa.
"Though I have enjoyed our traveling together immensely and despite all the wonderful, breathtaking sights you've showed me, it is good to be home at last, my Lion," the First Queen said with a wide smile on her lips as she pressed herself harder against her Lord's naked form.
"To me, home – has always been where you are, my Love," the Conqueror whispered and kissed her wife's warm cheek.
The Queen was very pleased with her Lord's answer and with a finger under her Lord's chin brought her lips to her for another kiss – a deeper, more enticing one.
"Remind me again - whose turn is it to milk the goats?" the Conqueror asked, feigning confusion and closing her eyes in the hopes of stealing a few more moments of sleep.
"My Lord, you offend me when you think you can fool me so easily. It is your turn, as well you know," her wife protested. "But because I adore you, I shall keep you company when you pull at the udders."
"You are a generous soul," the Conqueror contrived a frown and climbed out of bed . As she donned her white, plain cotton shirt, throwing glances at her wife's naked form, she asked: "Do you remember that day when I found you in the library… When you were still my servant?"
The Queen remembered perfectly well.
***
The days were those before the Conqueror's campaign to Persia . Gabrielle sat in the Imperial library. It was vast. So vast in fact that whenever Gabrielle had entered it, she would count the lines and rows to make sure she would find her way out of it. Tens of thousands of scrolls were resting over many racks that reached high, nearly all the way to the dome ceiling. Countless ornamented ladders rested against the racks and amongst each row there were beautiful, massive wooden tables. The dome itself was a marvel. It had dozens of small, narrow windows at the bottom of it and grand murals covered it all the way to the top. Candles were not allowed inside the library for fear of fire. Instead, there were lanterns that had been especially designed for the library.
Gabrielle had always believed that the library was just as beautiful as the Great Hall had been. She adored the scent of the musty parchments mixed with the odor of stale dust.
To protect the scrolls, the Imperial Library was dimly lit and daylight was scarce within its walls, for aside from the narrow windows around the bottom of the dome, there were no other windows. Whenever Gabrielle would sit in the grand Library, she would occasionally lift up her gaze from whatever it was that she had been reading and up to the narrow windows so to know when the sun was setting, for she would need to go to her chamber and wait to be summoned for service.
On that chilling day, however, she was too engrossed by the volumes before her and so she failed to notice the sound of scrolls being shuffled about and then the sound of wide gates made by heavy boots that were nearing her from behind.
Gabrielle noticed her Lord's presence only when her Lord rolled open a large scroll on the same table where her slave had been sitting.
As soon as she realized that she had been in her Lord's presence, Gabrielle slid from the bench she had been sitting on and down to the floor.
"My Lord," she greeted her Master on her knees.
The Conqueror did not reply. She seated herself onto the bench. With a small tap on the parchment, the scroll rolled open and the Conqueror began to study the map of Persia spread in front of her.
Out of respect to her Lord's station, Gabrielle took the scroll she had been reading and moved to sit on the floor at her Master's feet.
However, no matter how hard she tried, she failed miserably at regaining her concentration. Her Lord's presence possessed every thought she had. The heat emanating from her Lord's body, she sensed, was nearly singing her skin. From the corner of her eyes, she caught sight of her Lord's hand resting casually on her Lord's strong knee, merely inches away from her nearly blushing cheek.
She yearned for the long fingers, with the hard knuckles that had always touched her like they owned her, to leave their resting place and delve into her golden hair. How she longed to lean her head against her Lord's strong thigh and how she desired to be touched by limitless power.
Little did she know that her Lord was equally distracted by the presence of her body slave.
It was getting colder for there were no hearths in the library and Gabrielle could feel her backside freeze against the cold stones beneath her and her skin bristle. A shiver ran down her spine and rattled her body.
The Lord Conqueror noticed and her hand moved from her knee and tapped the empty spot next to her on the wooden bench.
"Come sit by me," she said with her rich voice, without her eyes ever leaving the map, making her slave's heart skip a beat.
Hastily, Gabrielle picked up the scroll and got up from the floor. She took her place next to her Lord and was immensely grateful for her Lord's kindness.
The Conqueror's body heat soothed her and thawed Gabrielle's body.
After a few moments in silence, Gabrielle looked up at the narrow windows only to realize, much to her dismay, that the sun had already set.
The time for her to return back to her chamber had come and gone and so she got up, but suddenly felt a large hand gripping her by her forearm.
"You may stay and finish reading whatever it is that you are reading," the Conqueror spoke again without her eyes ever loosing their place on the map.
"Thank you, my Lord," Gabrielle replied meekly and resumed her study.
Sometime later, the Conqueror addressed her again, only this time she removed her gaze from the map and averted it to the scroll that had been opened in front of her slave.
"What are you reading?" the Conqueror inquired.
"It is a new scroll from Rome about curing stomach upsets, my Lord," the slave replied.
"It is in Latin," the Conqueror pointed out and seemed even more curious now. "Do you read Latin?" the Conqueror asked in Latin.
"I do, my Lord. One of the librarians gave me scrolls from which to learn," she answered and kept her gaze down as customary.
"An autodidact through and through, I see," the Conqueror sounded quite amused.
"I try to be, my Lord," Gabrielle replied, forgetting herself. She felt proud of herself and very flattered by her Lord's remark.
"Learning is vital," the Conqueror stated. Then after a long pause in her speech she continued, "Ruling without thinking is dangerous. Thinking without learning is equally dangerous."
Gabrielle nodded her assent then inwardly berated herself, thinking her Lord neither required nor requested her approval.
"When we are young it is our duty to learn and when we are old it is our obligation to pass on our acquired knowledge," the Conqueror went on to say as her warm palm spread itself over her slave's thigh beneath the fabric of her slave's garment.
Her Lord's will was clear even though not a single word was spoken and it was all the coaxing Gabrielle needed. She moved to sit on the table, lifted up her frock and spread her legs wide before her Lord.
The Conqueror rose to stand on her feet. One hand she kept on the soft flesh of her slave's inner thigh close to the hot opening while her other hand undid her leather belt. Her breath was labored, as was her slave's. Brutally, she kicked the bench behind her further backwards to give herself sufficient room and her smoldering eyes flared bright lust.
The Conqueror guided the tip of her phallus to her slave's engorged nub and slowly rubbed its length over it, making it even harder and slicker.
In her heart, Gabrielle knew that her Lord was doing it for the sole purpose of enflaming her desire and she succeeded, for Gabrielle could feel her wetness pouring out of her and as her need grew stronger so did her grip on the edges of the table beneath her.
But then the Conqueror stopped. "Not here," she said panting. "I do not wish to interrupt you studying."
Equally panting and with blushed cheeks, Gabrielle had half a mind to tell her Lord that she didn't care for her studies at this point and that all she wanted at that moment was to be taken, for her passions were burning high, but she quickly realized that halting was her Lord's wish and it ought to be obeyed.
"Return to your stomach upsets," the Conqueror smiled kindly as she stuffed her phallus back into her leather trousers. "We shall continue this later in my chambers."
***
Relishing that sweet memory, the First Conqueror began to write " The book of War" and the Queen began to write "The Book of Healing . "