| Faeted Lovers -·=»‡«=·- Chapter 2 -·=»‡«=·- 11 years later A girl has got to do, what a girl’s got to do. I didn’t like it, but it was the fastest way to infiltrate the Nightingale Army that was visiting our City of Bird Song. I had fully expected that the trained recruits, now fully fledged soldiers, would spend a night in the city. Well, some did. Others didn’t. The more influential, higher ranking personnel, stayed behind in their camp to have their meetings in private. That’s what Fredrick told me; the drunk soldier at my bar, drinking our cheapest ale and staring at my tits all night. I had convinced Dorkas to let me bar tend, despite the fact she wanted me away from leering drunken males that might assault me. I was secretly terrified that that might happen, but I had chosen a target carefully. Fredrick was of few words, grumbling about tomorrows training in the early morning. He preferred to ask me questions as the night wore on. “You ride horses with tittes that big?” he slurs his words, “Don’t it hurt?” “I can do many things,” I raise a brow and pour him more ale. He eyes his cup and pushes it away, growling. “I’d say you’re tryna make a steal on me, girly… you wanna rutt… or takin’ my silver back in my tent? You ain’t getting none like some whore. I don’t pay my whores. We have aplenty back in our area. Free. Pussy. Who many men you ‘ave… uh? I don’t trust a pretty face like yours, to be frank wit yah,” Okay, I take it back, my Fredrick was not a man of few words now that more of the ale had hit harder. “Depends if you like curvy, stocky, strong girls like me…” I return, “…or wiry and limber. I can’t dance, but I could fight in an army if someone gave me a sword, or a spear. I have the strong thighs, strong core, weak arms but… a girl can’t have it all. Most of the hormones went straight to my ass and tits, not the dick I don’t have, unlike some,” I snap this part and Fredrick jumps to his feet, smirking while swaying side to side with the inn music. “Let’s go den, Ima see what else them feisty lips can do for me,” he chuckles and heads for the door and I reach up behind my head, taking out my working braids and fluffing out my curly locks of dark red hair. I take off my jacket, showing my corset which was pushing my breasts half way out the damn thing. However, I needed to look the part. And I would take whatever consequences would follow to get into the core of that camp. “Wait up, Freddy!” I call out while I glance over my shoulder, seeing Dorkas walking down from upstairs. Before she can spot me, I slip from the counter to run out the door. I grab a hold of Freddy’s arm before he makes love to one of the horses tied up outside. I keep him steady and I repeat myself, “The camp, Freddy, the camp… take us to a warm bed… in a cute tent…” I pat his back and he nods and stumbles his way towards the outskirts of town. The reason I cared so much about this camp, was the name of the man leading it. Rexion. I had heard the name enough to know it was definitely him. That monster of a man who stole my friends and ruined my childhood was back. For eleven years, all I did was listen for news, looking for whispers around town. Any news about churches, nuns, armies, Rexion, war… anything. It had taken eleven years for Rexion to return. I was hoping that two of my friends were here, at the very least. Vlaric and Vladimir. They’d be 21 and 18 years old now, Vlaric would be old enough to lead parts of the army himself. Soldiers often died young, so I hoped desperately they had made it through. Vlaric was smart enough to pull something like that off. He liked to lead. Surely, my instincts were correct. My plan if I found him? Not sure. I just wanted to see him again. Talk, laugh, maybe find a way to be friends once more. Anything was possible, soldiers could be told to stay put in certain towns. He didn’t have to be in the army if he was 21 now. He could leave. Maybe even Vladimir could too. That’s if they were alive. “…why you walkin’ so slow…” Freddy spits through wet lips onto the side walk as we reach the grass. “Is there a… a, um… soldier called Vlaric… in your camp? Vladimir? Vlaric?” I try to ask it casually, “Long lost family is all,” I quickly add when Freddy gives me a funny look, pausing to scoff. At first, he doesn’t answer me. And my heart sinks. Maybe they weren’t in this battalion. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe this was a waste of time. Dangerous and not worth it. Shit! What was I doing? I was still walking with Freddy to the camp, my hand holding his elbow tighter. I was wishing it. Wishing them here. I needed their presence to be true. It was my one and only dream to see them all again. Please, god – “Yeah… yeah, I know that sly eyed cunt, loose lipped, freakin’ freak with a sword, he could dance with it, probably shoves it up his darn ass at night, he loves that darn metal he stole… made it… oh, I can’t stand a smart mouth, that one…” Freddy murmurs the convoluted mess under his breath. “Which one? Vlaric?” I snap, a bit too impatiently. “Yeah, yeah, why you talkin’ bout other men, I’m your bull tonight sweet dolly,” Freddy pulls me closer and I lean in ‘eagerly’. Yes. Yes! My cheeks were blushing already with the thought. They were here. At least one of them was. And a part of me was so glad that it was Vlaric. I sweet talk Freddy all the way to his spot, past fires and men speaking roughly and eyeing my over flowing tits. I help Freddy into his singular tent by the others, and I kiss the back of his head, “Sleep tight,” I whisper as I raise my hand, which was holding a rock I picked up from one of the tent’s pegs. I whack it over the back of his head and he falls flat on his face, ass up in the air, snoring already. I kick his ass forward so he can lie on his front and then I turn around with victory. I did it! I made it in! The camp is seventy percent empty. The whole area isn’t pretty. Makeshift tents, horses, horse shit, and whores moaning from some of the tents, yet all I had to do was look for the biggest tent. In the middle, as it should be, protected. It was square, red material and very obvious. I don’t make my way there too quickly, I pretend to be lazily walking around, a simple stroll at night. Besides, I had to contain my excitement, I had butterflies in my stomach – “Vlar…?” my ears… they pick up on a voice, female. I pause, after getting close to one random tent close to the middle, I’m both confused and convinced I’m imagining voices just because I want what I want. I want my friends back, and I was about to get a part of that dream back, so I was a bit overwhelmed right now. In a bit of a hopeful daze, I step back quietly and the medium sized tent has an open flap, showcasing the most handsome knight I’ve ever seen. My whole world stops spinning. He’s half naked, with his breeches pulled up loosely, his abbs and muscles are well trained. He’s shaving while standing, checking out his perfectly sculpted face in a mirror; worthy of a girl’s fairy tale prince. My prince… I whisper it in my head, my lips moving, miming it, embarrassingly, but no sound comes out. That’s what my seven year old self would have said anyway. I was just reminiscing, nothing else. But… I am totally bedazzled. I just stare. “Pick up after yourself,” he murmurs under his breath, without turning around, careful to shave with the very sharp blade he handles. I’m so entranced by the fact he looks just like the older Vlaric I had imagined, that my girl crush brain takes a while to catch up to reality. “Please, can I stay a wee bit longer, Vlaric, please…?” the second voice is sultry, and I take a step to the side to gaze in towards her. I didn’t expect it, even though it was obvious. What I see makes my stomach turn. My first thought is also embarrassing… if a whore could look any less like me… I gulp when I see the naked, skinny black haired beauty wrapped in a dirty old rug, looking like Vlar’s best buddy. They talk so easily. So casually. There’s no tension at all. “I have to get some sleep before tomorrow,” Vlaric is still quiet, before he yells out, “Who’s standing outside my tent, eaves dropping? Is that you, Vlad?” Ah, oh. I turn and run. Shit. I freak out for no damn reason, sprinting through the tents, skidding around corners and gaining everyone’s attention; in the worst way possible. Someone yells out ‘must be a thief!’ and I realise I’ve dug my own grave. Panting and scrambling to get the hell out of there, my luck is short. My boots dig into the dirt when three soldiers jump out from the side of their tents and grab my hair, my legs and my arms. I scream as they pull me up, laughing that they caught me so easy. They turn me upside down and give me a shake, looking for any stolen coins. They drop me casually when they realise I hold nothing of value. My palms hit the ground and I twist my wrist, crying out as I squat and jump back up, stumbling away from the confused soldiers. I fix my corset, which had one titty poking out. I breathe heavily, I feel like a trapped rabbit with the wolves around me. “Why you running, whore?” one asks, totally at ease, “You causin’ a scene for attention, huh? Feelin’ lonely? No one wants your fat, gorgeous heart ass, is that it…? don’t worry, love, I love me a good piece of meat – I’ll keep you warm, how about that?” “Leave her!” the barked command behind me has me frozen to the spot. The soldiers roll their eyes and murmur, “Whatever, Vlaric,” laughing quietly to themselves as they walk off. I’m rooted down with fear, too scared to turn. Too scared to get Vlaric’s disgusted stare. As children, no one cared if you were tall, short, round, thin, flexible, strong, loud or quiet. Now… ever since puberty hit me a couple of years ago… I had heard it all. I didn’t even have a problem with how I looked, but that soldier had to take the low blow – “Who are you?” Vlaric sounds totally dismissive and pissed off already, even though he hasn’t seen my face. I can hear his boots through the wet grass and I know he’s going to grab my arm and spin me. I don’t want him to get that close. Or to touch me. I shiver with terror at the thought. I force myself to turn and look up at him, horrified of what he’ll say or do. Honest to god, for a few seconds, the blonde knight has a blank stare – nothing registers. My heart sinks, too quick. “Why are you running through our camp…?” Vlaric looks majorly irritated and confused, “Do I… know you from somewhere?” his tone changes, slightly. His disgruntled look, however, is what pushes me to snap. It all comes out. I hold back my tears to explain, “The very moment I heard Rexion’s army was visiting the City of Bird Song, I planned, for weeks, to find a way to get here. To find you. To see you. You know you came from this city and you didn’t even bother to leave the camp and go searching for me? Even for an hour of your time?” I yell the last part, “Instead, I find you relaxed, like nothing could ever bother you, talking to a whore after fucking her; because that’s more important. I suppose this cities past is nothing to you now -?” Vlaric’s eyes fire with recognition and his whole face changes. “I – I didn’t know. Mona –?” “I seduced a drunk to get in here, Vlaric. To find you. Yet you didn’t even give me a second thought,” the more I think about it, the more angry I get. He should have planned to go searching for me when the camp arrived. But Vlaric’s facial expressions have dropped again. Irritation is back on the table, “Oh have I done something to offend you, soldier?” I snarl. Only full of irrational emotion built up over a decade of longing for his company. For my friend. “You did what to get into this camp…?” he whispers this, “How old are you?” he snaps the last part, “Seriously, Mona? So you’re just as foolish and reckless as you were when you were a child…? A seven year old child… and you’re still the same mind, in a grown body? Have you not matured at all? Do you not have a sense of danger? You must be eighteen…” Vlaric scoffs, “Right. That explains it. Mona…” he huffs out a breath and looks at the sky, closing his eyes, “…well…” he whispers, looking back down to me, “It’s good to see you, regardless. Should we talk now or… wait, I have to get Ulysses out of my tent. Will you wait?” “Fucking a whore, rather than searching for your own family,” now I use the low blow. I spit at his feet and I turn, stalking my way out of the camp. I’m furious. I can’t talk right now. I get a good few ten paces away before I hear Vlaric laughing and calling out, “When you cry yourself better I’ll talk to you tomorrow… at the usual…?” The rotunda. I hate that I know what he means. I’m too angry to think with sense. I don’t turn, I just flip him my middle finger and trudge my way out of camp, back home. Fine. I’d see Vlaric tomorrow. But first I was going to cry. But not for the reasons I proclaimed to him. For far more insecure, stupid, pointless reasons. I felt… not enough, after tonight. Like my fairy tale dreams of reunion were dashed. It wouldn’t be four friends dancing around and getting along. It’d be fat jokes and beautiful whores and handsome men treating my friends, while I was the funny fat girl on the side. I had never even felt ‘fat’ until tonight. I hated my insecure thoughts, but they consume me and they won’t leave until I cry it out, get some rest and eat some breakfast with some ale. Once the pity tears were drained, I’d try to find a silver lining. Something that wasn’t so shallow to think about. Even now, I think about all the things I can say to Vlaric tomorrow. I can’t think of a single thought. I’m too mopey. One of my annoying personality traits. At least the now handsome knight remembered something about me; even if it was one of my worst qualities. |
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