Daughter of the Sun Ch. 13

IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS...

After the long trip which had brought Eluan from the Tower of the Sun, to the city of Hadun and the court of Duchess Sung, the Princess and their escort are enjoying some peaceful days of relaxation in the Palace of the Thousand Flowers, waiting for the Duchess to provide her response to Queen Hailey's letter.

In the meanwhile in the north, in the Palace of Troygrove, the young priestess and exorcist Octavia finds unexpected help during her investigations about the fate of Queen Artemis, after a passionate encounter with one of her soldiers and one of her bed slaves; the secret room within the Queen's apartment could be the place in which the mystery which surrounds Artemis is hidden...

***

With her palms flat on the grass and her knees firmly planted on the ground, Princess Eluan arched her back vigorously, stretching it to the utmost like a bow ready to shoot, throwing her head back and trying to touch the back of her head with her toes, almost succeeding, and remaining motionless in that difficult position for over a minute.

Having completed even that strenuous exercise to keep trained the flexibility and elasticity of her body, the Princess rose nimbly to her feet, ready to move on to the final exercise of balance and meditation. Clasping her hands in front of her chest and closing her eyes, she stood on her left leg only, resting the sole of her right foot against the inside of the opposite thigh, breathing deeply and trying to create absolute emptiness within her mind while, with extreme and deliberate slowness, she raised her arms high above her head, her fingertips pointing towards the sky.

It was just one of the many exercises that Hua, Duchess Sung's Head Attendant, had personally taught her the day before, when they had arranged to meet for a session of gymnastics and meditation at dawn in the same garden where she still was, behind the Great Audience Hall, and where Eluan had been welcomed two days earlier, upon her arrival at the Palace of the Thousand Flowers in Hadun, and entrusted by Sung herself to the care of her three young and beautiful attendants.

Hua had proven to be an extremely attentive and capable teacher. For over an hour she had guided Eluan through a series of exercises for the well-being and awakening of both body and mind, thoroughly explaining the details and the benefits, monitoring the proper execution and often intervening to correct the Princess's posture with her small but strong hands.

Eluan already knew quite a few of them, having learned them from her dear friend and court enchantress Praja some time ago, during the course of their usual morning meditation sessions conducted together with Hailey and Darya on the beach in front of the Tower of the Sun, but she had been happy to be able to learn some new ones from the beautiful twenty-four-year-old attendant with the large, almond-shaped dark eyes and tanned skin.

The two young women had exercised completely naked, in the dim light of the atmosphere preceding the rising of the sun, alone, surrounded by a perfect silence interrupted only by the murmur of the waterfall that fed the pond and by the chirping of the morning birds hidden among the branches of the trees in the park, alternating exercises of muscle stretching with those of strengthening, exercises of deep psycho-physical relaxation with others of intense meditation.

Very soon, Eluan had felt her internal energy awakening, and a sensation of pleasant warmth unfolding from the pit of her stomach, to gradually spread through all her limbs, a slow but wonderful wave of well-being and strength that had grown inside her, filling her completely.

And, along with the inner energy, the natural desire of her young body had also awakened.

Hua's expert hands were strong yet gentle, feeling pleasantly caressing, and they seemed to purposely linger on Eluan's bare skin for a moment longer than necessary, every time she touched her to correct a position or to help her with performing a particularly complex exercise. Eluan had not minded that at all, and had completely abandoned herself to the touch of those expert hands, as if she were clay in the hands of a potter, allowing them to guide and shape her as they wished.

The sweet and prolonged massage she had received the night before, along with the intimate conversation with Sung's three attendants, had somehow changed her internally, opening her mind and freeing her from many of her previous inhibitions regarding her desires and sexuality. And therefore, on that morning, she had had no qualms about openly confessing to Hua about her evident state of arousal, induced by the persistent closeness of their naked bodies and her constant, soft touching.

With her always exquisitely humble and calm manner, Hua had welcomed that admission by clasping her palms and bowing her head.

"I am honored and pleased to hear you pronounce such words, Your Highness," she had said. "It is good to see you finally free from all those unnecessary inhibitions that plagued you. Come now, let us conclude the session together with one last, liberating exercise."

Following Hua's lead, they had knelt together on the soft grass of the lawn, facing the rising dawn, side by side, their bodies barely touching each other. Hua had gently took Eluan's hand in her, before guiding it right in the middle of her thighs, where a small bush of black hair grew lush, placing the Princess' fingers on her clit, while Hua's right hand had came to rest in the same exact spot on Eluan's womanhood.

Gently, Hua's fingers had began to move in small, slow, very pleasant circles, while she had guided the Princess's hand to do the same to her. Eluan had found herself extremely pleased to discover the intense wetness between Hua's legs, an unmistakable sign that, for the beautiful black haired attendant too, their session together had not been indifferent and without effects at all.

"The sun is life, strength and warmth," Hua had declared in a calm, deep voice. "Welcome its energy into you, Highness. With each breath, feel its rays of fire entering you through the pit of your stomach, imagining its light filling your body and mind entirely. With each breath, your inner life force grows, becoming stronger and stronger..."

Deeply influenced by her suggestive words, Eluan had actually felt a new energy growing inside her and, together with it, her own physical pleasure too. Moaning, she had abandoned herself to Hua's expert touch, whose fingers had began to move faster, in more energetic spinning circles, sometimes even slightly penetrating into the Princess's femininity while, with her free hand, Eluan had squeezed one of her own small breasts, further increasing the effect of those sensations.

And when the red disk of the sun had appeared in all its splendor above the treetops,

the two young women had simultaneously given themselves over to a prodigious and prolonged orgasm, freely screaming their ecstasy aloud, like two ancient, primitive sun-worshippers of times past, offering their feminine pleasure in praise of their glittering divinity.

It had been an almost mystical, unifying experience, something incomparable to any other erotic experience she ever had so far. It had been absolutely spontaneous for both of them, once their spirits had calmed down and their labored breathing had subsided, to remain kissing each other long and deeply, embracing each other tenderly and taking pleasure in each other's presence and in their physical and emotional closeness.

A sweet smile curled Eluan's lips as she remembered the events of the previous morning, as she brought her hands back to her chest and concluded the last of her exercises with a deep and vigorous exhalation, placing her foot back on the ground and slowly opening the lids of her beautiful blue eyes.

Even though she had done it in complete solitude, that morning session had left her as if transformed. Energized in every fiber, her body almost vibrant with vitality, her mind filled with a self-awareness of her own seductive power that she had never felt before, in that moment Eluan felt much more than the Princess of Syfall; she was a young and irresistible Goddess of Love, capable of making any woman she may have desired to drop instantly at her feet, with a simple blink of her eyes or with a snap of her slender fingers.

And perhaps she was truly becoming so, she thought with a sense of pride. During the banquet of the previous evening, organized by the Duchess in her honor, she had found herself surrounded by a crowd of young and beautiful courtesans, all highly excited by the possibility of exchanging a few words with the Royal Princess in person, and Eluan had greatly enjoyed the feeling of being at the center of all that female attentions.

Okawa, the Lady Commander of the Red Flowers had offered, who knows if with an ulterior motive, to lead her in a private training session in the martial techniques of their military corps, while there was no the slightest doubt about the real intentions of the Admiral Kasumi, behind her invitation to go and visit her ship and to enjoy also a short tour of the surrounding islands. Eluan had accepted Okawa's offer and had graciously promised Kasumi that it would have been her pleasure to make the visit, should the time she had left available at Hadun had allowed it.

The Princess returned to look at her surroundings. The clear surface of the nearby pond had an irresistible attraction on her. As if hypnotized by the bright reflection of the early morning light on the water, rippled by the light blowing breeze, Eluan allowed her feet to drag her toward the edge, step by step, as if animated by a will of their own.

It was too shallow to swim in, but that didn't matter to her. At its deepest, the water barely reached halfway up her thighs, but Eluan still greatly enjoyed the feel of the cold water on her skin as she slowly padded over the hard, slippery stones of the bottom, stroking the surface with her fingertips, heading toward the point where the stream coming from the pine grove cascaded over some large rocks, forming a small, bubbling waterfall.

Cupping her hands together, she let the cool streams of water fill the hollows of her hands, while crystalline drops splashed freely onto her bare chest, onto her nipples already naturally swollen with the morning's excitement.

If the sun was her progenitor, the mother Goddess from whom her ancient dynasty originated, water was her personal element, her most intimate friend, her lover. It seemed just perfectly to her right to demonstrate her love and devotion for that primordial element, by dedicating to it a sensitive manifestation of her pleasure, a pure expression of her life force.

She was alone that morning, but this didn't bother her anymore. Finally free from those useless feelings of guilt, the Princess had no longer any problem with pleasuring herself, quite the contrary.

The thought of Hua's naked body was almost sufficient in itself to induce her to orgasm. She wasn't mentally strong enough yet to be able to reach a climax with just the force of her thought, but, she had promised to herself, with practice she would have succeeded in this one day.

But at least for that day she still needed a little, manual help. Taking another step, she moved further below the waterfall, so that the jet of water rained straight on her breasts, enveloping her body from that point down, like a splendid liquid and cold dress. And then, two light touches down there were enough to unleash her pleasure, a long, powerful scream of liberation, while her young body trembled, releasing into the water discharge after discharge of powerful orgasmic energy.

In the most ancient and primal times, the most spiritually elevated women were used to offer their pleasure to the elements of nature, as a sign of worship and praise. Eluan had learned this from her readings, and was more than fascinated by the fantasy of reliving those ancient cults. A thought beyond heretical, and one that would have brought her more than a simple rebuke from both her sister and Lady Edith Beresford, the elderly High Priestess of the Sun. However, there was no need for them to know, Eluan thought with a smile.

Having fully completed her morning ritual, feeling totally at peace in body and mind, the Princess slowly emerged from the waters of the lake, heading towards the low canopied bed placed right on the shore, the same one where she had received that wonderful, mind-blowing massage from the hands and the naked bodies of Hua, Jia and Yin-Yu two nights before.

A soft, thick cloth towel had already been prepared for her by one of the attendants, folded and scented with lavender. Eluan wrapped it around herself, before sitting on the edge of the bed, taking from a low wooden table nearby a fine porcelain cup, filled to the brim with a warm herbal tea, pink in color, whose delicious aroma hung in the air.

She had just tasted a few sips, when one of the sliding doors of the building on her right opened, and the three female members of her escort entered the garden. As always, they were dressed in their usual traveling clothes, tunic, trousers and boots, and their swords were firmly secured at their sides in their leather scabbards.

Anja was the first to speak to her.

"Good morning, Princess," the statuesque blonde, daughter of the Count of Summerstone, greeted her with a radiant smile. "I trust you are feeling well after your morning exercise session."

"I feel wonderful, my dear Anja," Eluan replied, putting down her cup of herbal tea and stretching languidly, feeling more refreshed and invigorated than ever from the exercises and fro the bath. "And good morning to you too, Lydia and Nicole. Did you have a peaceful night?"

"Very pleasant I would say, Your Highness," Nicole replied with a knowing wink. "Thank you for asking."

Eluan couldn't help but giggle. Through the thin walls that separated their apartments, she had heard unmistakable noises coming from the girls' room during the night, and she knew without any doubt that, as had happened a week ago at the tavern along the road, the three women had conceded to themselves another moment of mutual pleasure before falling, presumably still piled up in the same bed.

But, this time, she had felt no envy at all, only a sincere contentment for the trio. In all of her life Eluan had never truly desired the throne for herself, but in that moment she thought that, if fate ever made her Queen one day, what she would have desired the most would have been to surround herself with a court of women who loved the female gender, and who felt entitled to freely express such love with each other.

An image of herself, sitting on Syfall's throne with just the crown on her head, gently stroking the hair of two naked maids lying at her feet and looking down from her seat at the throne room, crowded with beautiful courtesans and female knights engaged in amorous acts, aroused an inner smile within her mind.

"Do you know what I was thinking?" she said, standing up. "That you would really deserve a day off, all the three of you. Not much is going to happen today. I won't speak to the Duchess about my sister's letter until early afternoon, and for this morning Lady Commander Okawa has invited me to a personal halberd practice session in the Armory. Our stalwarts Willard and Gerrard will be here in the Palace anyway, so there's really no reason to keep all the three of you here."

"With your permission, Princess," Anja replied seriously, "just for safety, I'd prefer to stay by your side anyway. You never know what you might need..." she said, purposely letting a certain ambiguity to hang in the air, something that Eluan didn't mind at all. Then, turning to her companions with a smile, she added, "I don't see any reason not to give our two friends here a little freedom, though."

"What do you think?" Eluan asked, looking at the other two girls. "Would you like that?"

"Your Highness is very kind," Lydia replied with a shy smile and bowing her head, after exchanging a quick glance with her friend. "We would accept gladly, and with gratitude."

"Then we will do this way," Eluan decided. "Take the whole day off, until the evening. Go out, visit the city, do whatever you want and, above all, have fun. I would only ask you to run a small errand on my behalf, if that's not too much."

"Whatever you may want, Princess," the young red-haired knight nodded.

"Hua recommended me a number of ointments and medicinal plants that I would like to purchase," Eluan explained. "You will find a list on the table in my room. I would appreciate if you could stop by an herbalist on your way back and make these purchases for me. Feel free to take as much money as you need from my purse. And feel free to take more to buy anything you might like during your visit to the city."

"I know a very good one, Your Highness," Nicole, who had been born and raised in that city, replied. "The owner is an old family friend, and I don't exclude that she might even apply us a little discount. We will return with everything you need."

"And one more thing," the Princess added before dismissing them. "There is no need for you to go around in those heavy travelling clothes. The Duchess has graciously presented me with a selection of beautiful kimonos, which you can find in the wardrobe in my room. Please choose the ones you like the most and wear them. They will be my gift to you."

Both Nicole and Lydia bowed to the Princess with beaming smiles on their young faces, before turning to go get ready for their day off with obvious excitement.

"Your Highness really does have a golden heart," Anja commented once they were left alone in the garden. "They are two reliable, loyal and hard-working girls, who always give their best during the tough training sessions. Even little Nicole, despite sometimes seeming a little silly and immature. They really deserve a reward for their efforts."

"You would deserve that too, dear Anja, perhaps more than anyone else," Eluan said. "You have been our trusty and tireless guide throughout our journey since we left Vinevris, and Darya has always had high praise for you to me and my sister. Is there really nothing you desire?"

"Something that I desire?" for a brief moment Anja seemed caught off guard by that question. "Yes, there is something, Your Highness," she replied after a few seconds of thought.

Her beautiful, light blue eyes bore straight into the Princess's. And when she spoke again, her voice was full of emotion, as if her words were flowing from the depths of her heart.

"A secret dream that I have jealously guarded in my heart for some years now. But it is something so beautiful, something so sublime that my lips do not dare to pronounce its name, my Princess, for fear that it might vanish in the air like a mirage, the moment should I find what I desire the most right here, before my eyes."

Her heart began to beat more madly in her chest at the hearing of those words. During the course of their journey from the Tower of the Sun, Eluan had more than once the impression that the blonde daughter of the Count of Summerstone might have been hiding some interest in her. She had guessed that from the occasional glances, from the half smiles that she gave her from time to time, from the amount of things that the lady knight seemed to know about the Princess's personality and passions, although the two of them had never spoken to each other before that journey.

But those words went far beyond a mere expression of desire for carnal enjoyment. They were a true declaration of love, profound, intense, directed to the soul.

Eluan was not really prepared for this, and she had to take a moment to seriously consider the virtues of the woman before her. Anja seemed to have all the qualities that the Princess had always dreamed of in her ideal of a woman. Noble, strong, chivalrous, a companion who would have undoubtedly kept her protected and safe, tough and determined when necessary, but who could also become extremely sweet and gentle with the object of her love, like the heroines of the novels and poems she loved to devour.

And then, she was undoubtedly beautiful, definitely one of the most beautiful women the Princess had ever laid eyes on. For several days Eluan had hoped to get the chance to spend a little time alone with the beautiful blonde, and now this moment seemed to have finally come.

Trembling, Eluan's hand went to the knot on her chest that held the towel to her body. She would have done it. She would have let the towel to fall to the ground and would have shown herself completely naked to her knight, and from there she would have let everything to happen naturally.

The bed seemed to be there on purpose, ready to welcome them and to become witness to what would have perhaps been their first act of their love story. Eluan did not want to set limits. She wanted to enjoy and, even with more intensity, she wanted to fall in love. She wanted a new woman in her heart, someone who could finally banish the ghost of the bittersweet memory of Lady Cassandra Ashcroft, which still haunted her after so many years.

She was about to do so, when a door opened from a pavilion to her left, and Lady Commander Okawa appeared in the doorway, decked out in full scarlet armor and carrying a pair of heavy training halberds under her arms.

"Your Highness," she greeted her, bowing respectfully. "The Armory is ready for our training session. Whenever you wish."

"I'll be ready in a moment, Lady Okawa," Eluan replied, returning the bow with a nod. Then turning back to Anja, she asked her "Do you want to come with us?"

The blonde knight shook her head, and Eluan's heart sank for a moment at the sight of the hint of sadness which had appeared in the large blue eyes of the woman.

"With Lady Okawa you will no doubt be in excellent hands, Princess," she said with a contrite smile. "I will leave you in her care. I will be in my room, next to your apartments."

She took few steps in the direction of the door from which she had entered the garden.

"You know where to find me, should you ever need me," Anja said with a bow, before turning and disappearing over the threshold.

***

They had changed their clothes, replacing their leather riding boots with light and comfortable straw sandals and their heavy traveling clothes with a pair of colorful, light silk kimonos chosen from the Princess' wardrobe. Pearly pink edged in silver for Lydia, a color that beautifully paired with the flaming red of her hair cut short to the shoulders, dark blue with golden bands for the curly and brunette Nicole.

They were definitely having fun. For the most part of the morning they had wandered through the lively streets of the city, visiting shops of any kind, walking through the numerous flowering parks, observing and admiring temples and monuments. At a crossroads, they had witnessed a show performed by a troupe of wandering artists, marveling at their acrobatics and at the skill with which they handled knives and flaming torches.

And what was making everything even more pleasant were the glances of open admiration that numerous men among the crowd were giving them as they walked down the street, sometimes accompanied by explicit compliments which, far from disturbing the two girls, did not fail to arouse smiles and pleased giggles in them.

"Good morning, beautiful ladies," a warm, deep, female voice suddenly greeted them from the side of the street.

Almost simultaneously, Lydia and Nicole turned to their right. From a small and dilapidated wooden building, whose open door was covered by a heavy drape of red fabric, a tall woman with sharp, sensual features and penetrating, intense dark eyes had emerged onto the street. She was wearing a simple teal kimono, devoid of any decoration, and a pearl-colored silk sash was wrapped around her head, from beneath which long strands of black hair protruded. She was barefoot, and scores of thin, jingling bracelets of various metals were wrapped around her slender wrists and ankles. She appeared to be in her mid forties.

"Would you wish by chance to know your future?" the woman asked, showing an intriguing half smile. "Madame Yarwen can predict with certainty what fate has in store for you. Love, wealth and luck... none of these matters are hidden from her inquiring eyes. All for a single gold coin."

"Are you a fortune teller?" Nicole asked, with a note of obvious skepticism in her voice.

"Fortune teller?" the woman laughed cheerfully, putting her hand to her mouth, her laughing rich and musical. "Oh no, my sweet, young lady. Fortune telling is the domain of tricksters and charlatans. My art is the nobler one of divination. An ancient art and the preserve of few, but one that Yarwen's ancestors have passed down from generation to generation for centuries, and which she owns with absolute mastery."

The woman stared at both of them for a moment longer, with a strange intensity in her deep, dark eyes.

"A single gold coin to know your future," she repeated again.

Nicole had always been generally very skeptical with regard to magicians and fortune tellers, and was not intended at all to throw away money in this way, but the prospect seemed instead to have piqued Lydia's attention for some reason.

"Come on, let's try it," the redhead said, taking Nicole's hand and pulling it. "For such a little price, what will it be?"

Reluctantly, Nicole decided to follow her friend, while the tall woman moved aside with a smile to allow the two young women to cross the threshold of the small hut, after having left their sandals at the entrance.

The interior consisted of a single room, dark and windowless, dimly lit by the light of a few candles. It was a decidedly bare environment; a small table, some chairs, an old cupboard. Heavy black curtains covered the bottom of the hut, hiding from view what evidently had to be a second room at the back, probably a small storage room or the place where the woman usually rested.

The seer made the two young women sit at the table, while she moved towards the cupboard and, opening it, took out from it an object, as simple as it was exquisite; a delicate sphere made of pure crystal, perfect in its roundness, so small that it can be held in the palm of a hand.

"This," the woman said solemnly, carefully placing the small sphere on a velvet cushion on the table with the respect due to an holy relic, "it is the Sphere of Prediction of my ancestors. In its depths, all the answers to your most hidden questions can be found. You must gaze at it intensely, very intensely, while in your mind you think about what you desire to know the most."

She sat down in front of them, on the opposite side of the table.

"Fix your eyes upon it now, as you gaze into its depths," the woman instructed them, her voice lowering. "Look carefully at the beautiful dance of the lights inside it, as the glimmer of the candles seems to reflect and multiply infinitely on its surface. Observe all those tiny points of light, how they move, and relax."

The black-haired girl's expression was still skeptical, the woman noticed, but even so her eyes were already fixed and focused on the sphere. In contrast, the redhead's green eyes expressed enthusiasm, curiosity and incredible anticipation.

"Relax completely," the woman continued to instruct them, her voice becoming soft, monotone, soothing. "Clear your mind and make it empty. Think of nothing else but the question you want the sphere to answer, and relax more."

"Soon, very soon, you will feel like a pleasant sense drowsiness invade you. Accept it and do not oppose it at all; it is the sign that the Sphere has found the answer for you and is preparing to communicate its response in your mind. Do not oppose to the sweet desire to sleep even for a few moments..."

While maintaining the incredulous expression on her face, the black-haired girl was blinking more frequently, as if she was making a subconscious effort not to fall into a deep sleep. The redhead's gaze, on the other hand, had already totally transfixed, her eyes wide open and completely lost in the crystal depths of the sphere.

"Yes, I see it is happening right now. I see that your eyelids are getting heavy and that your eyes are already closing. This is all right. Let your eyes close... and sleep. Sleep, sweetly and deeply now. Sleep... sleep..."

The seer smiled, observing how the most skeptical girl was also the quickest to close her eyes and fall into a deep, hypnotic sleep. The redhead managed to keep her eyes open for a few more moments, but from the blank expression on her gaze it was clear that she was now completely gone. In fact, just a few more moments, and she too let herself go into a state of profound unconsciousness.

The woman remained for a few moments observing them in silence.

"You will answer to all of my questions without hesitation now," she then ordered, her tone now changed, suddenly harder and more authoritative. "It is your desire to reveal to me everything I want to know, without hiding anything from me. You are absolutely incapable of lying and, actually, you have no intention of doing so. Open, honest and sincere, totally comfortable in confiding even your most intimate secrets with me. This is what you are."

There was no reaction from the two girls sitting in front of her, who both appeared to be sound asleep, their chins resting on their chests which rose and fell rhythmically, in time with their slow, deep breathing. But the seer knew how the two young women would have heard her voice and would have perfectly responded to her commands.

"Who are you, and what are your names?" she asked. "Answer me, red-haired maiden, becoming more obedient to my commands as you do so."

"My name is Lydia Gavarokas," the young woman murmured slowly, her voice weak, distant and sleepy. "And my companion's is Nicole Silvermoth. We are two Knights of the Sun's Guard, in the personal service of Her Highness, Princess Eluan Val Lumenar of Syfall."

"What kind of business brings you here in Hadun?" the woman continued. "Now you will answer me, girl named Nicole. You will do it with pleasure and without sparing the details and, once you'll have done it, you will feel much more inclined to obey to my will naturally, spontaneously, without asking questions."

"We have escorted here Princess Eluan from the Tower of the Sun," there was no hesitation in the flat and monotone tone with which Nicole responded to the seer's request. "We have landed in Hadun two days ago. The Princess herself was sent by Queen Hailey to deliver a letter to Duchess Sung, a letter personally written by the Queen. The same letter that our commander, Lady Darya D'Agatos, was instructed to deliver to Duchess Dasha of Vinevris as a matter of urgency."

"What is the content of this letter?" the woman's voice was inquisitive, penetrating, as she scrutinized the two hypnotized girls with the same intensity of a bird observing its prey. "Both of you are very eager to respond, but Nicole will still be the one who will do it."

"We don't know that exactly," the girl replied in response at that command. "But it must be something very concerning. Duchess Sung looked very worried after having read its contents. I saw it with my own eyes, as she silently read the letter, in the Great Audience Hall."

Yarwen's gaze shifted to the young red-haired woman.

"Tell me, my obedient Lydia, how much longer will you stay here in Hadun?"

"One more day, maybe few more I think," Lydia answered with weak voice. "I couldn't say for sure. The Duchess asked for time to reflect on the content of the letter, before sending a response to the Princess. But we know for sure that this afternoon they will meet to discuss it."

The seer took a few moments of silence to reflect on what the two girls had just revealed to her. It was all very interesting, but she wanted to know more. It was necessary to develop a plan of action.

"Now listen to me very carefully," Yarwen then ordered. "For all of your remaining time here in Hadun, you will be my eyes and ears at the Palace of the Thousand Flowers. You will observe and listen to everything that will be said and done by both the Duchess and the Princess. Your mission is to steal the content of that letter, with the sole objective of coming and telling me about it."

She leaned forward, bringing her face as close to the two girls' as possible.

"Starting from today, and for each day of your staying in Hadun, at the fifth hour of the afternoon you will feel the irresistible urge to go to the Great Bath House of the Women, near to the western gate of the city. There you will come to tell me everything you have learned. To me and me only. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Lydia murmured.

"Yes, ma'am," Nicole's tone, though sleepy, sounded more firm and determined. "I know the place. We will come and report."

"Very good. Now stand up."

Obediently, the two girls stood up, their eyes still firmly closed. Also Yarwen slowly rose from her chair and, walking around the table, placed herself exactly between the two of them.

"In a few moments, I will command you to exit this hut," she said. "Once you will be back in the middle of the street you will wake up and will resume your business normally, like you were doing before you met me. You will have no memory of our meeting, nor of what you told me, nor of what I ordered you to do. However, my commands will remain firmly imprinted in your subconscious, and to them you will obey blindly, even without knowing it."

Her hands encircled the two girls' shoulders, gently pulling them closer to her, until their heads were resting in abandon on her shoulders.

"You will not remember at all my face, nor my name, nor my voice. However, the moment you will see me again..."

And she concluded the sentence by whispering some soft words in the ears of the two young women, barely audible, but which were more than enough to arouse an unconscious thrill of excitement in their limp bodies.

***

"So, was it them?" asked the man who came out from behind the heavy drapes from the back of the hut, coming to stand beside her.

He was wearing a rough, light-blue tunic, linen breeches cut short to the knee, and his large straw hat rested on his back, revealing a young, clean-shaven face, with noble and attractive features and dominated by a great mass of disheveled golden hair.

"You were right," confirmed the woman, while standing in the doorway as she observed the two young girls head into the middle of the street and resume their journey without looking back, already completely forgetful of what had just happened. "The girl you saw disembark the other day at the port to go to the Palace was indeed Princess Eluan herself."

"I was sure of it," the man said with a strange quiver in his voice. "She has grown a lot in the last four years, and she has become truly beautiful... almost as beautiful as her sister. I also thought to have recognized Anja Summerstone at the head of their group, and that bald head of Gerrard Butler is absolutely unmistakable. These two, however, along with the ridiculous guy with the mustache, were new to me. They are probably new recruits."

"Beautiful and, most importantly, very obedient," Yarwen commented with a firm tone of approval, turning around and letting the heavy cloth to fall in front of the threshold. "It seems that Commander D'Agatos is very talented in selecting the knights for the Sun's Guard, don't you think?"

"Don't even mention that damned woman's name," the man growled, barely containing his seething hatred. "Rather, I hope that those two will come back soon with interesting news. I'm really curious to find out what may have induced Hailey to send a secret letter to the Duchess, moreover sending Eluan herself as her emissary."

"They will, they will," Yarwen assured him. "They won't even know why, but they will. I am confident that by this evening we will already know everything that the Duchess and the Princess will have said to each other during their meeting this afternoon."

"I love it when you use those dirty mind tricks of yours, especially on girls," the man chuckled. "The way they obey you and swallow everything you tell them is just incredible. They would have gotten down on their knees to lick your cunt like tamed dogs, should you have ordered them to."

"They would have, for sure," she said with a note of disgust in her voice. "And you are as always a complete, stupid, ignorant idiot. The art of hypnotism is a fine and subtle thing, not some kind of dirty trick as you call it."

"Easy on the names," the man replied, feigning offense and hugging her from behind by her narrow waist. "After all, I'm always your man, aren't I?" He kissed her slender neck. "Now take off your kimono. Seeing you boss those two bitches around made me horny like a bull. I want to prove it to you."

"You'll have to do it by yourself," she said, wriggling uncomfortably out of his embrace. "Or pay a whore who will do the service for you. Today I only want women. And those two docile and beautiful girls have made me want them even more."

"For the hell of it, Yarwen," the man protested, taking a step back. "If you liked them so much, why didn't you take advantage of them right away? Or at least you could have had them undress while you indoctrinated them, so that you would have given me some new material to indulge my fantasies on. In this heat, I'm pretty sure they didn't have too much else on under those kimonos."

"You forget our agreement, my dear," Yarwen scolded him. "You are absolutely free to take to your bed any woman you are able to seduce. But the ones I conquer, by any means, are mine and mine only. You must not even look at them."

From an iron nail in the wall she took a large circular straw hat, placing it on her head before heading for the door.

"Where are you going now?" the man asked her.

"I have some errands to run that will keep me busy for a good part of the day," was the vague reply. "And later in the afternoon I may have an appointment at the Bath House with two charming, unwitting young spies, remember?"

From the threshold she blew him a kiss.

"I'll be back by evening," she said as she left.

Left alone in the small, dark shed, the man let out a deep sigh as a whirlwind of emotions crowded into his heart. Incoming bad news could have been just what he was needing, especially if particularly terrible ones. A direct threat to the person of Her Majesty or, even better, to the entire Kingdom of the South, could have offered him, with a bit of luck, the opportunity he had eagerly been waiting for for so many years... the opportunity to redeem himself in the eyes of his beloved Queen.

"Hailey..."

Despite the many years spent away from her, neither Yarwen nor any of the other women he had owned in the meanwhile had been able to oust her from his heart. The memory of the blonde and beautiful Queen of Syfall, splendid and radiant like the sun, smiling and naked like that morning when she had given herself to him for the first time on the banks of the Arnon river, was almost enough to push him over the edge even without needing to touch himself.

With another sigh, Sir Lothar Reeves, the one who had once been the Lord Commander of the Sun's Guard and betrothed to Queen Hailey, wistfully untied the laces of his breeches. Once again, he would have dedicated his pleasure to the devoted memory of the only woman who, even in his exile, still remained the absolute owner and mistress of his heart.

***

The Great Bath House of the Women of Hadun was an imposing three-story building surrounded by a large wooded park, located a short walk from the city's western gate. As its name said, it was a place where men were absolutely not allowed, a place of refreshment and meeting for the female gender only, who had here a safe space in which they could relax, have pleasant conversations and take care of their well-being and of their bodies.

Lydia and Nicole were lying prone on two small massage tables placed side by side, inside one of the many halls located on the ground floor, relaxing and enjoying the after-effects of the intense, invigorating full-body massage they had just received from two of the facility's expert attendants, observing the comings and goings of women of all ages crossing the environment to go to the numerous internal and external thermal pools, the steam bath rooms, the massage rooms, the saunas.

"Hot baths, massages with essential oils and, most of all, beautiful naked women everywhere," Nicole sighed, the satisfaction evident in her voice. "I challenge you to find a better place than this to relax and forget your worries for a while."

That afternoon, upon their return to the Palace of the Thousand Flowers after their excursion through the streets of the city, Princess Eluan had summoned them to her room, together with the other knights of the Sun's Guard, and there she had decided to communicate them the outcome of the conversation she had had shortly before with Duchess Sung.

With a knot in her stomach, Lydia had listened as the Princess had told them about the horrible nightmares which had afflicted the Queen for entire nights, a clear announcement from the Sun Goddess of the incoming shadow of a terrible and supernatural enemy, and how within a few days they would have returned to Syfall bringing with them the army of Hadun, to prepare for the war in defense of their Kingdom, in the same way as Darya would have done with the army of Vinevris.

Such news had shocked her beyond belief. And therefore it had seemed absolutely natural and logical to her to immediately accept Nicole's proposal, the moment she had suggested that may have gone to the Bath House to relax a bit and recover, at least partially, from the fright of those horrible news.

"Don't think about that too much now," Nicole said, reaching out and gently caressing her friend's bare shoulder, seeing the fear still alive in her large, light green eyes. "With all the due respect to Her Majesty, this story about dreams doesn't convince me at all. Wars are fought against real enemies at the borders, not against some dark, unnamed ghosts in some distant wasteland. You will see that everything will end in nothing."

"I really hope it will be as you say," Lydia replied in a concerned voice.

"Trust me. Rather, have a look around and feast your eyes. There are some beauties to admire," Nicole's almond-shaped eyes focused on a couple of girls of approximately the same age as them who were crossing the room, their bodies wrapped in linen towels. "Those two over there, for example. Do you think they are in?"

The moment she caught their gaze, Nicole greeted them from the distance by arching her back, smiling and waving her fingers winkingly. Extremely embarrassed, the two girls exchanged a few words, covering their mouths with their hands, blushing and speeding up their pace to move away as soon as possible.

Nicole giggled.

"Stop being silly," Lydia scolded, feeling embarrassed by her behavior. "This is a public bath, not a bawdy house."

"How naïve you are," Nicole mocked her, returning to lay and relax over the massage table. "Don't you have thermal baths in Vinevris? In these places, with the right attitude, you can get more sex than in a brothel. And, above all, for free."

"Of course, we have them," Lydia replied defensively. "But we don't use them to do... certain things."

"I really don't understand you," Nicole continued to provoke her. "In Syfall, in the baths of the Sun's Guard, you have no qualms about getting involved in the biggest group sex parties, sometimes even in those with men. Yet, here you become more chaste than a nun."

"It's different," Lydia stammered in embarrassment. "There we are... among us."

"So what?" Nicole asked looking at her friend, getting no other response. "Listen, Lydia, I'm in the mood. If I don't find someone to have sex with within the next ten minutes, I've decided that I'm going to throw myself over you. I'll stick my head between your legs and will work you with my tongue until I'll make you cum like I did last night. I'll do it here, in front of everyone, I swear. What do you say?"

"Don't you dare!" Lydia hissed in alarm, instinctively bringing a hand to cover her breast, fearful that her friend might actually carry out her threat.

Nicole showed a mischievous grin, before turning her gaze back to the room around her.

"By the Goddesses!" she suddenly exclaimed, covering with one hand her mouth, wide open in admiration. "Look at that one!"

Lydia pointed her gaze in the same direction as her friend's, emitting a gasp in turn when her eyes caught sight of the intriguing figure who had just entered the hall, a woman in her mid-forties, tall and slender, with very long black hair and a gaze as sharp and penetrating as a knife. Like almost all the other women around, she wore only a towel wrapped around her body, and the two girls watched her as she went alone to sit on a long wooden bench, almost at the other end of the hall.

"Oh my..." she murmured, totally enraptured by that wonderful vision. "She's absolutely astonishing."

"I'm going to talk to her," Nicole decided without the slightest hesitation, quickly jumping down from the massage table, without taking her eyes off the woman even for an instant.

"Wait!" Lydia said, climbing down from the massage table and hurrying after her friend, trying not to slip on the floor made slimy by the numerous patches of water. "I'm coming with you."

In the rush and in the excitement of the moment, their towels remained abandoned and forgotten on the massage tables. The woman watched them coming closer to her, with a raised eyebrow as the two girls approached, wearing nothing but their brightest smiles.

"Good evening, ma'am," the effusive Nicole greeted her cheerfully, without feeling as per her usual the slightest embarrassment in starting conversations even with strangers. "We saw you here, all alone, and we were wondering if perhaps you would have appreciated some company, to chat and spend the time more pleasantly."

The woman looked at them both, from head to toe, for long moments, without changing her expression.

"Are you two prostitutes?" she finally asked, coldly.

The two girls looked at each other for a moment, speechless, before bursting into a loud, embarrassed laugh, realizing in that moment in which extremely questionable way they had just introduced themselves to that woman.

"Prostitutes?" repeated Lydia, whose face had turned completely red. "Oh no, my lady. We are two Knights of the Sun's Guard." Immediately imitated by her friend, she stiffened in the military salute, raising her hand to her forehead. "Knights of the Sun's Guard in Her Majesty's service!" she added.

"Seriously?" said the woman, clearly not impressed by those words and by that ridiculous scene. "Anyway, I'd rather prefer to remain alone. Unless the two of you have something really interesting to tell me."

With a twinkle in their eyes, the two girls exchanged a quick knowing look. They knew well that it would have not been appropriate to communicate to a complete stranger such confidential information as the one they had learned from the Princess's lips, however... the opportunity to speak with such a fascinating woman was so tempting that it was impossible to resist.

"Well, actually..." Nicole began to said, as they both sat down on the wooden bench, taking seats on either side of the woman. Then she leaned forward, and covering her mouth with the hand, she whispered into the stranger's ear, "We know the content of a secret letter. A letter that Queen Hailey herself sent to Duchess Sung through Princess Eluan. The Princess herself told us what was written in it, this afternoon."

For a few moments the woman said nothing, remaining silent as if she were considering whether or not this was an information worthy of her interest.

"The steam room seems to be empty," she finally observed, turning her gaze towards their right, where dense clouds of water vapor partially escaped from an opening in a rough stone wall, beyond which a dark, cavernous and deserted environment could be glimpsed. "I imagine we can better entertain ourselves there, without fear of being seen or heard by anyone. Shall we go?"

At that proposal, the two girls promptly jumped up, almost with impatience.

"It was very rude of us not to introduce ourselves right away, Milady," said Nicole, almost in excuse. "I'm Nicole, and my beautiful, red-haired friend here is Lydia."

"My name is Yarwen," said the woman, standing up as well, and looking down at them with an air of superiority from the height of her stature. "But you will address me with the title of Madame, as befits a noble woman of my rank. Are we in agreement, girls?"

"You really have a beautiful name, Madame," Lydia said, immediately complying to the request, looking at her with her open wide green eyes, as if she had already been fallen completely in love with that stranger.

"And one more thing, my little ones," Yarwen said, ignoring the compliment. "I imagine it won't be a problem for you to be my servants for the time we will spend together, right? It's not my habit to go to the baths without servants, but today unfortunately I had to make an exception."

"We will do that more than willingly, Madame," replied Nicole nodding decisively. "We are not used to do so, but we will do our best to make sure you won't miss anything."

"What such good girls, so helpful and obedient," she said with a tone of satisfied approval, placing herself between the two of them and encircling their soft, naked hips with each of her long arms. "And now let's go. You have truly encouraged me to listen to your news and enjoy your company... in more than one way, if I may say so."

The two girls laughed and giggled, blushing excitedly and unconsciously hugging themselves even more in the embrace of their seductive enchantress, as she led them with slow steps towards the opening of the room from which the thick steam came out, and where she would have owned them.

As they walked, the girls' eyes had become blank, their lids heavy, giving them a lovingly dazed look, while the post-hypnotic suggestions emerged one by one and powerfully activated in their subconscious, making them submissive and manipulable to her will. When Yarwen freed herself from the towel that wrapped her body, the two girls were already back in almost a complete state of trance, ready to obey her every command.

Yarwen smiled. Now they would have told her everything she wanted to know, they would have devotedly served her and, as a reward for their obedience, they would have enjoyed their pleasure as long as she would have wanted.

And who knows, she thought; perhaps, if in the end she would have felt in the right mood, she would have even allowed them to remember something.