"The Lady of Harrow Hill"

[ToniTaylor]

Introducing Carmen, the Housemaid (Rebecca's daughter)

Carmen's profile page; Carmen's image.

"I don't understand," Carmen said as her mother was filling her arms with bags from one of the wagons. "Why are we taking all of this to Lady Tamara's tent? Why aren't we taking it to the Keep?"

Rebecca shook her head and without looking to her daughter said, "Because the Keep has no roof, no ceilings, no floors, no hearths ... no nothing, you silly girl."

"Why not?" Carmen asked, ignorant of the decrepit nature of the mostly empty stone tower. "What happened to it."

"Take those to the tent, girl, then hurry back," Rebecca demanded, "We have work to do, too much work for me to be answering your silly questions. Go!"

Carmen did as she was ordered, hurrying to and into the tent before the heavy load fell from her grasp. For the first time since they'd left the Capital, Lady Tamara's tent -- which had been used for Hunts and other such events in the out-of-doors in the past -- was being fully arranged. During the trip to Harrow Hill, very little of what was contained in the many trunks and bags was ever taken out; there had been no need to unpack anything more than Tamara's bedding, a change of clothes, and her hygiene needs.

But with the Keep uninhabitable, the tent was going to be Tamara's home for quite some time. Everything was being unpacked and arranged to make the former Princess comfortable. Carmen rushed back to the wagon, filled her arms once more, delivered the possessions, and then repeated the back-and-forth four more times.

She and her mother, with the help of two other younger women, spent the next few hours doing all they could to make their Lady happy. Tamara visited often between dealing with other issues and even spent an hour or so working with the four. There was humor and playfulness, which surprised Carmen; she hadn't imagined that Lady Tamara could ever be happy with this new situation of hers, but she was beginning to think she might be wrong.

Carmen was happy, though. Being here in this untamed wilderness as opposed to the Capital made no difference to her, so long as Roland was nearby. Carmen had been in love and in lust with the young Guardsman from the first time she laid eyes upon him. She didn't understand her feelings for him at first, of course; her mother had never talked to her on the topic of men and women and how they interacted with each other except to say Stay away from men! To make matters worse, she had no female friends close enough to speak on such things as love, lust, and sex.

She was as innocent and virginal as a girl could be.

Maybe.

About the same time that she'd met and begun to lust for Roland, Carmen had also discovered the delights of masturbation. She drove herself to orgasm nearly every night, often with a pillow over her face to smother her cries of ecstasy. Often, particularly after seeing or -- if she was lucky -- speaking to the young Guardsman, Carmen found herself sneaking off to one of many available private places to pull her dress up and push her bloomers down to put her fingers to her yearning, sensitive flesh.

The 28 day long trip from the Capital had been horrific to her as she was unable to find the needed privacy to find her release and relief. Each morning and night she would see Roland and find her body burning for ecstasy, just before being once again boarded up in the cramped wagon for another 6 to 12 hours of travel northward.

Now, as the four women -- with Lady Tamara's occasional help -- finished setting up the tent, Carmen found herself wandering the encampment, looking for the man for whom her body had been burning up for a Moon. She discovered Roland atop the Butte with the Captain of the Guard and two other men; they seemed to be surveying the Valley of Harrow Hill, occasionally looking to the Keep and pointing to this place and that.

The gathering broke up finally, and when she caught the eye of the man of her lustful dreams, Carmen smiled broadly and waved to him. She was delighted when he not only waved back but also descended the hill toward her. When he was close, she looked him up and down in his uniform, gave him a little curtsey, and said, "You look very handsome today, sir."

Roland laughed, asking, "Sir?"

"You are m'lady's protector, Roland," Carmen said, feeling a blush fill her face as she added, "You are a very important man."

"I don't know about that," the Guardsman said, blushing as well. He looked Carmen up and down conspicuously, smiled at the knowledge that the young thing liked him, and told her, "You look very pretty today, too, m'lady."

Carmen laughed at the honor paid to her and blushed yet again. The two of them simply stared at one another for a long moment, neither of them certain what to say to move the conversation forward.

"Carmen!" the girl's mother called from the tent, causing the girl to flinch noticeably and, in response, the Guardsman laugh. "You have work to do, girl."

"She always calls you girl, doesn't she?" Roland noted.

Carmen realized that that meant the young man had been paying more attention to her than she'd previously believed, and that was a good thing. She looked back to her mother, waved acknowledgment, and looked back to Roland. She moved a bit closer and said in a soft but suggestive tone, "I'm no longer a girl."

Stepping back, Carmen smiled, then turned suddenly a rushed off. She glance back over her shoulder once while in flight and again at the tent, delighted to see that Roland was still watching her. She gave him a little wave ... and then before she'd ever realized she did it, she raised the fingers of one hand to her lips and blew him a kiss.

 

[ToniTaylor]

Introducing Henry (the Stableman), Hanna and Lilly

Just as Kendall the Farm Boss had been, Henry was a bit distraught at learning that the Guardsman Company had taken all the horses. He was, after all, the Stableman; his primary duty would have been taking care of the horses that would be used by the Guard for patrol and security, by Messengers (should there ever be a need for it), for running a still-yet-to-be-constructed Mill, or for pulling the plow he'd helped Kendall pull from a wagon earlier.

It now looked as though his secondary duty of dealing with the community's other livestock was going to be his main job now.

Of course, dealing with goats and hogs and chickens wasn't going to be entirely distressing for Henry, because the others who were already assigned to that duty were Hanna and Lilly. The two young women were were beautiful and playful and flirty ... and roughly half his age, though, neither of them had seemed to care about that anymore than did he.

Henry didn't know either of them very well, of course, as he and the two girls had only come to know one another while the expedition to Harrow Hill was being put together. But he'd made his interest in each of them known individually, taking care not to let either of them know that he was flirting with the other.

What Henry couldn't have known was that the two girls had already talked with each other about the Farm Boss's flirtations. And while he might have thought learning that he'd been overly friendly with one would have caused him trouble with other, the facts couldn't have been farther from the truth for a reason that would soon enough reveal themselves: Hanna and Lilly had been lovers for quite some time before ever meeting Henry, and ever since they'd learned he got stiffies when in their presence, they'd been discussing what it might be like to bring him into their love life.

 

[ToniTaylor]

Take a bath

The tents had been set up, and the personal possessions had been taken into them from the wagons.

Just as she had during the trip to Harrow Hill, Tamara insisted that her Lady's Maid, Rebecca, and her Housemaid, Carmen -- Rebecca's daughter -- stay in her tent until other accommodations were available. It was Tamara's hope, of course, that a roof could be built on the Keep soon so that she could move in and at least stay dry, if not warm.

A second tent would be occupied by the family of the Keep's Steward, Gregor. His family was twice the size of the next largest family, consisting of: his daughter, Kirsten; his son Alexander; his wife Valerie; his wife's daughter, Hanna; and his and his wife's daughter, Marjorie.

A third tent had been dedicated the Men's Tent and housed: Terrance, the Captain of the Guard; Roland, a Guardsman; Peter, the Smithy; Quinn, the Smithy's Apprentice; William, the Carpenter; Vance, the Stone Mason; Henry, the Stableman; Kendall, the Farm Boss; Lewis, a Farm Hand; and Austin, a Laborer.

The last tent was for the remaining females and the one male child of the community: Katherine, Tricia, and Glory, who were all Domestics; Polly, who was Glory's 12 year old daughter (#), William's wife and daughter, Beverly and Lilly -- William was, of course, in the Men's tent -- and the lone male of the residential arrangement, Steven, who was also 12 (#) and best friends with Polly.

There had been teasing and jokes from the men of the community about Steven getting to sleep with all those beautiful women. He hadn't found anything funny about it, though, because every night and morning for the last Moon he'd found himself standing outside the tent -- sometimes in the cold and rain -- while the females inside changed for bed at night or for the road in the morning. But in the end it was worth it as Steven's only true friend in the community was Polly and -- as the youngest male in the community and a bit small and meek for his age -- he felt he was picked on and teased by the other guys far more than was his share.

"There is a last tent, yes?" Tamara asked Gregor as the last of the setup work was being completed. He confirmed, and she ordered, "Set it up down near the river, with a fire pit and the big kettle."

"M'lady...?" the Steward inquired with a confused tone and expression.

"Arrange a bathing area, Gregor," she explained, "something enclosed from the wind and the prying eyes of the other gender. I think we could all use a good bath after such a long journey."

The group had been allowed only one bath during the previous 28 days, when the train of humans, beasts, and wagons stopped at a stream for a day while a damaged section of road was fixed ahead of them. Tamara had insisted that the Guardsmen escorting her allow her to heat water each night to freshen up, and she'd inconspicuously managed to get each of the women into her tent at least one other time to freshen up as well. But the men had had to tough it out, all but for one night when a relatively warm rain fell and many of them stripped much of their clothing off and rubbed hands over their flesh to wash away the filth of the road.

"A wonderful idea, m'lady, I will arrange it," Gregor told Tamara, giving her a respectful nod. He flinch a bit when she tossed him a small but heavy pouch. He recognized it but opened it to peek inside anyway, seeing the large block of perfumed soap. He joked, "For the women, I presume. You don't want to waste this on the men."

She laughed. "Let the ladies go first, then the men. While the latter get cleaned up, the girls and I will prepare dinner."

 

[ToniTaylor]

Deleted

 

[ToniTaylor]

The night passed without incident, though, Terrance hadn't been willing to take any chanced on the community's safety. He had taken a nap earlier in the evening so that he could remain awake through the entire night. Three pairs of men rose every 4 hours to stand watch over Harrow Hill from the top of the tower, accessed using ropes secured to the stone wall's top. As they watched from height, Terrance milled about the encampment.

The greatest danger they faced the entire night was when the Captain found himself facing a coyote who had come into the temporary village. He tried to quietly shoo it away, and when it didn't immediately leave, he tossed a chunk of salted meat at it. The canine snatched up the morsel and disappeared in a flash and without giving any sense of thanks.

Bright and early, Lady Tamara was up and about, listening to others as they promoted their agendas in regards to what they thought should be the community's priorities. After all had had a good breakfast -- including the animals, of course -- Tamara called everyone together. She gave a flowery talk about the loyalty and commitment of everyone here and about the possibilities if Harrow Hill.

Then, she did something that surprised many of her subjects: she told them that repair of the Keep was the priority, not so that she could move in but so that all of them could. "We need a secure place for all of us to live, and the keep is that place."

Tamara asked Terrance, Gregor, Peter, William, and Vance -- all of whom would play a major part in the Tower's construction and/or defense -- for their input of how to delegate efforts to accelerate the keep's reconstruction. A plan was put in place, and by half morn-noon, 18 of the community's 24 residents were walking east to the forests to begin the work: the men cut down, split, and shaved trees into beams for the roof and floor repair; the women gut and collected saplings, vines, and branches to construct corrals and pens for the stock animals; a combination of both genders, assisted by the children, gathered wild edibles and set traps for forest animals; and much more.

In the afternoon, William the Carpenter arrived at the logging site with measurements for the beams. The logs were cut to length and width and carried on shoulders back to Harrow Hill, and before the sun set, all of the major lumber for construction of the roof was piled and ready for assembly the next day.

Meanwhile, the animals had new homes and some other outbuildings had been constructed or were ready to be put together. Tamara was shocked at the amount of work that had been accomplished, and a couple of hours before the sun set, she called an end to the work and demanded that the rest of the night be one of song and merry.

Some of her people had brought instruments with them: a pipe, a fiddle, a tambourine, castanets, and three different types of recorder. The musicians played and the others sang, and to heighten the mood, a bottle of wine made the rounds until it was bone dry.

They called it a night, and -- after yet another evening nap -- Terrance set the watch again. Again, a peaceful night would come to pass; the coyote would make another visit, this time departing with a bone the Captain of the guard had been saving, just in case.

Not everyone would pass the night away with sleep, however...

(OOC: Sorry, you have to wait for this one. I have places to be. )

 

[ToniTaylor]

"You're going where?" Valerie asked her daughter and the two of them and the other 4 family members were ending their day and preparing to settle down for the night.

Hanna responded, "To the girls tent, mamma. They said I could sleep there tonight."

"Why would you want to..." Valerie started. She stopped, though, when she saw her daughter's eyes first widen, then look in the direction of her father, Gregor. The man snored like a bear during hibernation, and although the family had gotten used to it, they'd also often taken opportunities like this to sleep elsewhere and escape the noise. Valerie said quietly, "Go, slip out, before he knows you're gone."

"Thank you, mamma," Hanna said, leaning in to kiss her mother before grabbing up her bed roll and rushing out the tent's door flap into the deepening darkness.

At the same time, Lilly was telling the girls of the tent that was supposedly Hanna's destination that she herself was heading for the tent that young woman just fled. They met at a prearranged spot that was not with the view of any of the four tent openings, clutched hands, and ran off together down the hill toward the river, suppressing their desires to burst out in giggles.

They found the inside of the bathing tent to be the warmest place in the entire valley. (In truth, there was a hot spring in the eastern hills of which none of them were yet aware.) The fire under the big pot of water was down to coals by now, but the water in the container was still very hot to the touch. Hanna held a stick in the glowing embers until the tip began burning; with it she lit two candles, illuminating the tent's interior just enough to allow them to move about in confidence.

"You wanna...?" Hanna asked Lilly, looking to the bath tub that was their Lady's but which had been offered to the entire community until other options were available. Lilly's lips spread in a smile and she nodded. Hanna grabbed up a bucket, saying, "I'll haul cold, you scoop hot."

It took them several minutes to fill the tub to about a third the way up. When the water was perfect, Hanna moved up close to the 3 years younger Lilly, took her face into her hands, and pulled their mouths together for a long, soft kiss. When their lips parted, she whispered, "I love you."

Lilly giggled and blushed. Also in whisper, she repeated, "I love you, too."

The older girl untied the rope loosely tied about Lilly's narrow waist as a shape-creating belt. Letting it drop, Hanna urged the other girl's arms up, then began lifting the long, burgundy colored dress upwards. A moment later, the young beauty stood before Hanna naked with the exception of her lace up shoes.

"You're so beautiful," the older young women said, moving forward to take her lover into her arms. "I'm so lucky."

Hanna held Lilly tight to her as the pair kissed, ever more passionately as the moment passed. Hanna's mouth began moving down Lilly's body, kissing and licking and suckling it was to the kinky, reddish-brown patch of hair at the meeting of the younger woman's thighs. As her wetted lips kissed about the muff, her fingers hurriedly untied the worn leather laces of the equally worn boots. Lilly stepped out of them with help, then backed up to show herself off again to the woman who'd taught her the joys of sex.

"You're turn," Lilly said after letting her lover ogle her delicious body a long moment. After Hanna stood, Lilly moved to her lover and began undressing her, too. She untied and unlatched the leather belt, then began unfastening the hook latches that held together the bosom of Hanna's dress. With three of them loose, Lilly pulled the dress away from Hanna's shoulder and let the gown drop. As she stepped out of the dress gathered about her feet, Hanna pushed her own underskirt off her hips and was suddenly naked with the exception of her boots, and a moment later she was as naked as the younger woman had been.

The pair again embraced and kissed passionately, and as they did, hands roamed over backs, buttocks, breasts, and between thighs. Chests began to swell and shrink as the excitement heighted the women's breathing. Hanna turned Lilly and urged her into the tub before unlacing and removing her own boots. She stepped in, held the younger woman for more kissing, then lowered herself into the tub.

"Sit with me," Hanna said, reaching up to Lilly. The younger woman sat in the older one's lap, her knees barely fitting between the tub's sides and Hanna's hips and waist. They embraced again, kissed again, caressed again; and then as she slipped a hand between Lilly's thighs and found soft, sensitive flesh, Hanna reminded her lover as she so often had over their months of intimacy, "We have to be quiet."

Hanna's eyes never left Lilly's face as her fingers moved skillfully to work the girl toward orgasm. She loved watching the three years younger woman as the pleasure grew and grew within her. Lilly's expressions and sounds and movements conspicuously conveyed how good the fingers on her clitoris and inside her labia felt.

Hanna felt herself the luckiest woman in the world to have Lilly as her lover. And lucky was the correct word as it had all come to be due to a string of lucky events. Hanna had been a Housemaid for a Noble woman who had been a Lady-In-Waiting for then-Princess Tamara. With a passion for animals, Hanna had been spending some of her very minimal free time in the Castle's farmyard, and while there she'd met a young woman with similar sexual tendencies to her own.

One afternoon, while in the back corner of a stall with her fingers upon her new lover's pussy, Hanna had looked back over her shoulder at a gasp to find Lilly staring wide eyed at the pair. Lilly had turned to flee, but Hanna had caught up with her before she left the barn.

Hanna had worked quickly and -- it turned out -- successfully to reassure Lilly that what she'd seen was just something young women did. She talked about the feelings and desires and needs young maidens had and yet couldn't have satisfied by men without becoming soiled.

"You want to remain clean and pure for your future husband, yes?" Hanna had asked the nervous, shy, but still intrigued young woman. The older of the two had known just what to say and just how to say it to get to the point where she felt comfortable asking, "Would you like to learn what it's like...? Having me touch you in the way I was touching her? I promise you, Lilly ... you won't be sorry."

Although Lilly hadn't given an answer then, she also hadn't shied away from Hanna. The older of the two came to the farmyard every evening after the Night Housemaid relieved her, and Lilly was always there, despite her own work being completed for the day. They would sit and talk softly, not about what Lilly had seen or about that Hanna had said immediately afterward, but about anything else.

"Are you and that girl still...?" Lilly had asked after four days of them just sitting and talking. With her eyes diverted to her fumbling fingers, she finished her question, "Are you and her still doing that?"

"Why do you ask?" Hanna had answered, hoping they were finally going to have a conversation that would lead to her doing that with Lilly. Without getting an answer, Hanna had confirmed simply, "Yes."

After giving the girl a moment to consider her answer, Hanna had asked again, "Why do you ask, Lilly? Do you want to try it ... with me ... with her?"

"No!" Lilly had answered quickly, glancing up for only an instant before looking back down again. After a moment, though, she had corrected, "Maybe ... but ... not with her."

"With me?" Hanna had asked hopefully. Lilly hadn't answered, but Hanna had known what the answer would have been if the girl had had more courage. Hanna had stood, crossed slowly to stand before the younger woman for a long moment, then moved closer and leaned in to press her lips ever so gently to Lilly's.

And it had progressed steadily from there. Kissing led to embracing; embracing led to caressing; caressing led to groping; and -- while laying on a blanket laid out under the canopy of tall trees in a nearby forested area -- groping led to manipulating and penetrating and finally licking and sucking that resulted in the younger woman crying out in joy at her first of many orgasms.

The two of them would try to meet every day after that, though, often it was for little more than kissing and clutching at one another's young bodies. When they got the chance to be alone in private, they continued to delve into the most intimate of acts. Each would learn over time what pleasured the other; each would learn over time how to drive the other to orgasm.

When the King was overthrown and their Princess imprisoned, nothing changed between them; the work about the Castle went on, and the girls continued with their duties. But when they learned that Hanna's father, Gregor -- who had been Tamara's Steward -- was going into exile with his Lady, the two girls began to fear that they would never see one another again.

Lilly's father, William, was a Carpenter in the direct employ of the Castle. Her mother, Beverly, was a Shepherdess for a Noblewoman who was still a supporter of Lady Tamara, even while the former-Princess was sitting in a dungeon cell.

Lilly began talking to her parents each day, every day, about joining the entourage that was being accumulated to go with Tamara. They didn't understand Lilly's drive in seeing this happen, and neither of them was highly motivated to become part of a mission that each thought would be a failure.

But at the same time that the details of the exile were being finalized, the politics, economics, and power structure of the Capital began to look undesirable to William and Beverly. They went to the man organizing the trek to Harrow Hill and begged to be included.

And, because of things which had been far bigger than them at the time, Hanna and Lilly were now here today, in a tub of hot water, their bosoms pressed together as fingers worked upon Lilly's pussy, leading her to cry out in orgasm. She collapsed against her lover, wrapping her arms about Hanna's head and pulling it back to find the other woman's mouth with her own.

Lilly still hadn't come fully down from her climax when sound and movement caught her attention. She looked to tent's flap, which was now partially open, and gasped in embarrassed shock at the sight of the Captain of the Guard staring in at them.

"Forgive me," Terrance said as he let the flap drop again. "I didn't mean to intrude. I only ... I heard ... I thought..."

He was unable to finish his thought, shocked by what he'd seen. Oh, he'd seen women together like that before, twice. But those women had been whores, once a pair of them in a brothel putting on a show for the soldiers who were taking their turns placing coins on a nearby table before partaking of the half dozen women in the room; and the other time a pair of women engaged in a similar performance on a raised bed-like stage in the middle of a dinner put on for the Officers who had been the victors of a recent, war-ending battle.

From outside the tent, he would hear the two young women whispering with panicked voices as they hurried to bring their evening to an end in a way they had never imagined. Lilly was absolutely horrified by having been discovered in such a fashion, and without looking Terrance in the face, she rushed out of the tent and hurried up the hill toward her girls tent; she would slip inside it and into her bed without raising any serious attention, and tomorrow morning when she was asked why she was back, she would use the same excuse Hanna had for wanting to leave her family's tent, William's horrific snoring.

But Hanna didn't leave the tent. Instead, she called toward the tent's door, "Captain Terrance. Can you please come inside ... so that we can talk about what just happened?"

Terrance hesitated; he was watching the younger woman as she hurried up the hill, wanting to be sure she made it there safely. When he was certain she would be okay, he pulled the tent's flap open enough to find Hanna standing near the tub ... still naked. He diverted his eyes a moment, but then -- realizing that she wanted him to look at it -- turned his gaze back to her. She was simply incredible, the most beautiful young woman he'd seen naked in a number of years and certainly the sexiest women he hadn't paid to see naked.

"Would you come in, Captain?" she asked again. "Please?"

Hanna was trying to be brave in her attempt to give Terrance something else to be concerned with other than what he seen. But it had been years since Hanna had been in an intimate situation like this with a man, dating back to her first and only male lover, her father's brother, who had claimed her virginity in exchange for a handful of coins.

Terrance hesitated, his gaze walking up and down her shapely figure. Out of the water but still dotted with droplets of it, Hanna's body was chilled; gooseflesh covered much of her, and her nipples were swollen so large that they almost hurt. The Captain finally entered the tent and let the flap fall closed behind him.

He didn't know what to say to her. Most if not all of the residents of Harrow Hill would strenuously disapprove of the same-gender relationship. Even though the community had no Priest, it was still against God's Law for people of the same gender to engage in such physical activities.

Terrance knew that the exposure of such a relationship would be not just harmful to the two young women but to the community as a whole. Some of the residents of Harrow Hill would want the two girls punished; others might ask for them to be exiled, which was ironic as they were here because they'd accompanied yet another woman who'd been exiled. And most of those who did not support either of these two punishments would likely never have positive relationships with either Hanna or Lilly, shunning them for the most part.

As the senior male member of the community, a man of authority, Terrance knew it was up to him to find a way to keep this from causing problems that had no easy fix. The only fix he could imagine, though, was to keep what he'd seen to himself and tell Hanna to end her relationship with Lilly, whatever that relationship actually was.

Before he could speak on the issue, though, Hanna said in a soft, tentative voice, "Would you like to take your clothes off, Captain?"

Terrance felt his already fully hardened cock twitch anxiously at the invitation. He didn't immediately respond, and when he did it wasn't what Hanna had been expecting. "Put your clothes back on, m'lady. I'll walk you back up to your family's tent."

Hanna remained still, eventually saying, "Please, you can't tell my parents. You can't tell anyone."

"I know that, Hanna," Terrance said, looking about the beaten down grass floor of the bathing tent until he found the discarded dress. He leaned down to pick it up and offered it out without stepping closer to the naked young woman. "I won't tell anyone. But ... you have to end this, before the two of you are caught."

Hanna stepped close enough to retrieve her dress and began to hurriedly don it again. She sat on a stool to put her boots back on, and as she laced them she studied Terrance. When she stood, Hanna told him, "I was offering myself to you, Captain."

"I know."

He turned to blow out the nearby candle and gestured Hanna to do the same with the second one. After she had and the only light on them was the minimal red light of the fire's hot coals, Hanna asked, "How come you didn't take me? Am I not beautiful enough?"

"You're very beautiful, Hanna," Terrance said. Without meaning to do so, he let his gaze drop to the young woman's bosom, which was still highlighted even in the near darkness by the silhouette of her large, hardened nipples. He looked into her eyes again, explaining, "Any other time, you couldn't have stopped me, m'lady. But ... this just wasn't an appropriate time for that."

"Next time maybe?" Hanna asked, her lips spreading in a flirty smile.

"There won't be a next time, m'lady," he said in a firm tone, adding, "Will there?"

Hanna's smile faded as she remembered that Terrance could have taken this an entirely devastating direction if he'd wanted. Back in the Capital, Hanna and Lilly could have been paraded naked through the streets, jeered at, pelted with rotten food, as they were herded from the Castle Chapel -- where they would have been tried and sentenced for lewd behavior -- to an Army-run brothel to begin the only occupation for which they were deemed suitable.

"No, Captain," Hanna said, knowing that she was lying but having no other choice. "There won't be a next time."

Terrance pulled the flap of the tent aside a bit, looked out for a moment to ensure no one had approached as he had, and then pulled it farther open. But before she exited, Hanna reached a hand out and laid it upon his chest in an intimate way.

"It would be an honor to lay with you, Captain," she said softly, just before rising on her tippy toes and kissing him on the cheek. On her heels again, Hanna smiled, adding, "If you will keep what you saw here tonight between you and me and Lilly ... I would keep laying with you between you and me."

And with that, she headed out the tent and back toward the little village at the base of the butte. Terrance remained where he was, watching from behind the cover of the tent; he didn't want one of the Guards atop the tower to see him with Hanna, as he hoped neither of the men had seen him come down earlier or seen Lilly flee after that.

After he saw the silhouette of Hanna enter the girls tent, Terrance turned and descended a bit more to the water's edge to contemplate what had happened and where it might go in the days to come. Then, unable to get the view of Hanna's naked form out of his mind, he pulled out his cock and -- in what was nearly record time -- stroked it until he was spewing his seed out onto the bank of and into the fast moving waters of the Harrow Valley River.

 

[ToniTaylor]

The following morning, Lilly padded around the little tent village with her head down and eyes diverted every time she caught sight of Captain Terrance. When she had the chance to do so without being seen, she hurried over to Hanna and pulled her into the privacy of the back of a tent to ask what had happened after she left the tent.

"Nothing," Hanna lied. "I dressed and left, and the Captain said he would keep what he saw to himself."

Lilly couldn't believe they weren't going to be revealed as lovers, and twice more during the day she would quickly ask her lover if she was certain that their secret was safe. Each time, Hanna told her to relax and get back to work. "He's not going to tell, trust me."



Just as with the day before, the community went hard to work and got a great deal done. Most of the work was done on the butte this day; they'd cut and transported all of the big beams necessary to support a new roof, and today was all about getting them lifted and in place so that construction of a new roof could begin. The beams would all be put in place today, though; it was simply too big a job, made even harder by a lack of the standard tools that would have been available to them back in the Capital.

Things other than the tower repairs got done, too. The pens for the hogs and goats were completed, each with a lean-to that would protect them from the rain and harsh winds. Coops for the chickens, ducks, and geese were built as well. After a hawk was seen circling over the bird shelters, some long branches and thin saplings were put in place over the coops to deter -- though not fully prevent -- the raptor from easily swooping down to claim one of the domesticated birds for its meal.

Peter the Smithy and William the Carpenter -- with the help of others -- set up some of the blacksmithing equipment under a shelter as well, creating the first though temporary building of the new village. There, they began sharpening tools and cutting new handles and other things that would enable the villagers to get onto other work that was necessary.

Kendall the Farm Boss took Lady Tamara on a walk around the area he had mapped out for the first plantings. He understood that the repairs to the Keep were important, but he stressed that it was already mid-April and some of their crops needed to be planted soon if they were going to be harvested before the Autumn cold and rain returned to this more northerly region.

Late in the afternoon, Terrance came up to Tamara and said in a calm voice, "We have visitors."

He warned her not to make it obvious, then directed her eyes to a slight upward roll in the ground to the east. "Hiding in the grass ... there are at least two people."

"What do we do about them?" Tamara asked. "Should we be afraid? What there are more of them?"

Terrance reassured her that they had nothing to fear. Off and on for the rest of the day, the Captain of the Guard and the Lady of Harrow Hill looked toward the hillock to see if anything new was to be seen. Terrance had sent Roland to the top of the Tower, telling him to be inconspicuous about surveying the land for threats.

"I will wait for the sun to drop more," Terrance told Tamara when the sun was just an hour from touching the hills to the west. "When it's in their eyes, if they haven't moved, I'll take Roland with me and we'll go out to greet our neighbors."

 

[ToniTaylor]

Meeting the neighbors

"I don't want you to do this," Lady Tamara told Terrance after he'd been called to her tent. "Someone could get hurt ... killed ... and for what? We don't know that these people are a threat."

Over the last couple of hours, Terrance had been inconspicuously meeting with some of the other Harrow Hill residents, explaining their part in meeting the neighbors who had been watching the new village being built. The plan had been to secretly send two pairs of men out to flank the intruders, then -- as the sun fell behind the village and blinded the strangers for a good while -- have Terrance and Roland hurry directly at them, keeping out of the sun so as not to silhouette themselves, yet still use the blinding brightness to hide their approach.

Terrance tried to argue that this was the best plan to learn who these people were and whether they posed a threat. Tamara, however, responded, "By essentially setting upon them with overwhelming numbers, Captain? It will only make us appear to be the threat. Remember ... we are the intruders in these people's minds."

"Of course, m'lady," Terrance agreed with a slight but respectful nod. "So ... do you have another idea?"

"Yes, I do, as a matter of fact," Tamara said with a smile. "Let's you and I walk out and greet our neighbors."

Terrance didn't respond immediately but eventually asked, "Just the two of us?"

"Just the two of us," Tamara confirmed. "Our visitors have not threatened us in any way. Why should we believe they are a threat? And why should we present ourselves as a threat?"

Terrance tried to talk Tamara out of it, and when that failed, he tried to talk her out of being part of the greeting party.

"I am the Lady of Harrow Hill, Captain," she reminded Terrance. It is my duty to greet our neighbors.

Eventually, Terrance gave in to Tamara's plan. With Roland in the tower watching and others who knew how to use them armed with swords and bows and ready to come to the rescue if needed, Tamara and Terrance headed west.

They didn't hurry, nor did they dawdle; they initially walked a bit north of due east, then turned south of due east toward their visitors. Their path meant that the Early Spring sun setting south of due west would not hide their approach.

They also meandered when necessary to stay to the high ground, again wishing to keep themselves in view of those they were going out to meet. And to ensure that the watchers understood that there was nothing covert about this on the part of Harrow Hill, Tamara had ordered the rest of the community's residents to conspicuously gather at the east edge of the encampment and watch ... making it clear that they knew full well that they were not alone in this valley.

They initially walked in silence, their minds filled with the imaginings of what might be ahead. Then, out of seemingly nowhere, Tamara asked, "Will I soon be officiating a wedding, Captain...? Between you and the young beauty, Hanna?"

Terrance felt his face go cold as the blood rushed from it in shock. He feigned ignorance, responding, "I'm sorry, m'lady. I'm not sure what--"

"My little birds," she cut in, speaking about the gossips who kept her informed of such things like who was fucking whom, "They tell me that you and my cook's daughter spent some time together last night in the bath tent."

Tamara peaked upward at her protector to see his reaction; Terrance didn't look back, however, his gaze still on their destination. But there was an obvious touch of panic in his face. He was wondering what his Lady thought of him being with the half-his-age girl alone in the night in a place where people took off their clothes.

"People will be taking soon enough, Captain, if they aren't already," Tamara explained. "The girl's honor is at stake--"

"We did nothing, m'lady," Terrance cut in. "The was nothing intimate between us. The is nothing between us, m'lady, I promise you."

He glanced Tamara's way for the first time since beginning this awkward conversation. As Tamara looked up again to meet his eyes, Terrance diverted his gaze back toward the stranger's.

"I only thought I saw someone heading for the bathing tent, and I thought I should investigate," he went on, speaking a mix of truth and lie. "I saw a candle, and when I called from outside, Miss Hanna identified herself. I remained outside the tent, of course."

Terrance blushed as he remembered what he'd seen: two beautiful, naked women engaged in the most intimate of acts, followed by one of them presenting her young body to him for his own intimate pleasures.

"If you wish me to speak to Hanna's father, before these rumors reach him--"

"M'lady..." Terrance cut in with a concerned tone. "We may have made a mistake."

He tipped his head toward their destination, now less than 50 yards away; the 2 visitors they'd expected were now suddenly 8 as the others -- in a slight do behind the rise -- made themselves known.

They were all armed.

 

[ToniTaylor]

Tamara had already much earlier warned Terrance not to react in such a way that might alarm their neighbors, but now -- as they realized how outnumbered they were -- she casually reached over to lay her hand upon his ... which had reached to the hilt of his sword.

Once she was certain he wasn't going to pull the weapon, she called out in a friendly tone, "My name is Tamara. This is Terrance."

She wasn't sure what else to say; Tamara had never had to perform diplomacy, with the recent exception of negotiating her exile to Harrow Hill. She took two cautious steps forward, indicating to Terrance that he should remain in place.

He didn't like Tamara moving closer: amongst the 8 people, he had counted 4 swords, 6 daggers, 2 axes, 2 spears, and 5 bows between the strangers, and between the two Harrow Hill residents, they had just his sword and dagger and Tamara's own dagger, which she'd strapped around her waist only minutes before leaving the village.

"This is our home," Tamara said, sweeping her had back toward the Keep and village. "We are building a village."

She knew it was presumptuous to claim land that these locals might think belonged to them. Tamara had a piece of parchment that said the Keep and Valley of Harrow Hill belonged to her, but that wouldn't mean anything to these people who had lived here for who knew how many years, decades, or centuries.

Tamara and Terrance both knew that these people were not of the race and culture from which they themselves had come. Their wardrobes were mostly of fur and leather with a touch of plant fiber type cordage, and thong wrapped around waists to support weapons and trousers or around ankles to secure footwear.

Terrance noted, however, that a few of the men and 2 of the women also wore an item or two that did come from the cultures of the south. And some of the weapons -- all of the swords and most of the daggers -- were most definitely from The South.

He knew that this meant these people had had encounters with his and Tamara's peoples in the past. What he couldn't know was whether or not those encounters had been peaceful. He warned Tamara softly, "Please, m'lady ... be cautious."

One of the females before them -- an archer who had had an arrow notched and partially drawn back the whole time -- had heard Terrance's soft warning and looked to Tamara. She spoke to one of the men who had been a Watcher in a tongue Terrance had ever heard but which Tamara had, long ago while traveling with her father to one of his Bannerman's castle on the eastern frontier of the Realm.

The man to whom the girl had directed her words turned his attention from Terrance to Tamara. He studied her a moment; Tamara had given up her fine clothes for some thing more Common, something in which she could work with her people. Even so, Tamara still likely looked somewhat important to these Hill Folk.

"You are ... martriankisha?" the 20-something woman said in a combination of Tamara's Common Tongue and her own local language. Tamara didn't understand the last word and was contemplating on it when the woman attempted to clarify in Common, "You are ruling woman? You own these people ... belong to you?"

"I don't own them," Tamara responded, adding, "but they do serve me."

The girl passed the answer onto the Watcher in their tongue, and after he spoke back, she asked, "Why you move into House of Dead?"

Tamara was visibly perplexed a moment, then realized that the girl was speaking of the abandoned Keep. She contemplated an explanation. "My King ... the man I serve..."

She didn't serve the new King and the former King, her father, was, of course, dead. But Tamara believed this explanation would serve for now. She continued, gesturing to the stone structure, "This Keep ... what you call the House of the Dead ... it belonged to his ancestors..."

She thought she detected some difficulty from the girl with that last word and clarified, "This Keep belonged to my King's father ... and his father and father's father before him. Understand?"

The girl hesitated a moment before saying, "Pappas and mammas."

"Yes," Tamara said with a smile. "This House belonged to them long ago and still belongs to them. My King ... he gave the House to me and my people..."

Tamara gestured to Terrance, then looked and gestured back to the line of people standing before the under-construction village. "My people and I have come here to live ... in the House and in the homes we will build near it."

The girl explained to the Watcher, who didn't seem happy with what he was hearing. When the exchange between the two of them ended, the girl said, "We live here. We live here first. This is our land."

"M'lady," Terrance said in barely above a whisper, the concern obvious in his tone.

"I'm fine," Tamara said back to him. She turned back to the girl and glanced about the Valley as she said, "This is a very big land. Maybe we could share it? Maybe both of our peoples could live here together ... in peace. We could learn much from each other. You could teach us about the land. We could teach you..."

Tamara hesitated a moment, then half turned her head to ask Terrance, "What the hell could we teach them?"

Before he could answer, the girl -- who had already been translating Tamara's offer to the Watcher and had gotten a short response from the man -- said to Tamara, "We want your weapons."

Tamara looked back with wide eyes, certain that she and Terrance were about to be overwhelmed, taken hostage, perhaps even killed. Terrance, whose hand had lowered to his side, once again lifted it to the hilt of his sword.

The girl realized that her words had been been misspoken and corrected, "You teach how make weapons. Swords. Axes don't break. Good metal. You know how?"

Tamara let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in a gush and chuckled in relief. "Yes ... yes! We know now to make good metal weapons. We..."

She hesitated and looked to Terrance. "We do, don't we?"

"Yes, Peter knows how to forge steel, but..." When Tamara gave him a but what look, he asked softly, "Do we really want to teach them how to make better weapons with which they can better kill us?"

The girl heard and understood enough to cut in, "If not teach us ... kill you with what have."

Tamara looked to the girl, to Terrance, the the Watcher -- who had taken a bit more aggressive stance over the past few moments -- and then back to the girl. "We will teach you how to make better metal weapons. But not as enemies."

The girl translated, though her expression seemed to indicate she didn't fully understand. Tamara took a cautious step forward and explained, "We will teach you how to make better weapons ... but only if we think our two peoples are going to be friends. I want my people to be your friends, and I want your people to be our friends. I want to be your friend ... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

The girl hesitated from the translation she'd been giving the Watcher, then said, "I am Valla."

"Valla," Tamara repeated, smiling and repeating her and Terrance's names again. She took another step forward, putting her just twenty feet from the girl. "Will you be my friend? Will you yourself be my friend ... and will your people be friends with my people?"

Valla studied the pair of newcomers, then glanced beyond them to the line of Harrow Hill residents who were watching anxiously. She spoke to the Watcher, who responded in a conversation that lasted a full two minutes. Terrance didn't like the tone or body language of the men or of some of the other armed Hill Folk, some of whom had began moving outward as if preparing to attack.

But then, Valla smiled and said, "We will be you friend. I will be your friend, Tam'ra."

Tamara smiled broadly, looking back to Terrance in the hopes that he, too, was feeling happier. She found him stone faced, still concerned. She was feeling confident, though, and she playfully stuck the tip of her tongue out at him, something she'd often done during her life when she'd been at odds with others. She giggled and turned back to Valla.

"I am the leader of my people," Tamara said, and then -- trying to repeat the word Valla had said -- said, "Mar-tria-kinsh-na?"

Valla laughed, as did some of the others. The girl corrected, "Mar-tri-an-kish-a. What you say mean, um ... kill wild pig with milk."

Valla laughed, as did two of her cohort; Tamara took that to mean that these two also spoke the Common Tongue, even if they hadn't spoken up yet. Valla spoke to the Watcher -- apparently about the verbal exchange -- and he smiled and chuckled as well.

Tamara laughed again, happy that there was humor and no bloodshed, as of yet anyway. She asked Valla, "Who is your leader ... your Martriankisha?"

"No Martriankisha," Valla said. "Partriankarra ... man leader."

Then with an expression of greater pride filling her face, Valla said, "My pappa is Partriankarra."

Tamara smiled, reached to her dress's sides, lifted the cloth, and performed a polite curtsey. She couldn't help but notice the confused expressions in the people before her, so she explained, "Where I come from, your pappa would be called a Lord ... an important man. That means that you are an important woman ... a Lady. And when others, like Terrance and I, are first introduced to a Lady ... we curtsey ... and bow."

Tamara had already begun her second curtsey, and now she glanced back to Terrance, whose face was still filled with concern and confusion. He took the hint, removed his hand from the hilt of his sword, and gave Valla a bow. The Hill Folk chattered between themselves and chuckled a bit. Valla snapped at one of them who had said something that even Terrance had noticed had a mocking tone in it.

"You are Martriankisha ... Lady of your people, Tam'ra?" Valla asked.

"I am," Tamara answered. "My title ... what my people call me is Lady of Harrow Hill."

Valla nodded her head out toward the distant Keep, asking, "This Harrow Hill?"

"Yes it is," the former Princess said. Merging the truth of the document giving her title to these lands with the current situation, Tamara said, "My Partriankarra ... my King ... gave me permission to come here to Harrow Hill ... gave me title of his ancestor's House of Dead ... ownership of the stone house ... so that I could come here with my people and share the land with those good and peaceful people already living here ... you ... and your people."

Valla and the Watcher spoke more, then as the latter turned his sword in his hand so that the hilt was outward toward Terrance and began walking toward the Captain, the former said, "My brother, Prinnus ... wants trade sword with your man."

Terrance again reached for the hilt of his sword, but he didn't pull it. He met Tamara's gaze looking for her guidance; he had no interest in trading his sword -- an example of great steel work -- for the blade he'd already noticed was of interior metal and poorly cared for.

"My man's sword was a gift from his father, who got it from his father," Tamara lied with a tone of sincerity. She continued, "Terrance would be dishonoring his ancestors to trade it to another person."

Prinnus had stopped halfway to Terrance and was now listening to his sister translating. After a moment, Valla said only, "Will give back."

Terrance and Tamara looked between each other for a moment, then the former pulled his sword slowly, turned the hilt appropriately, and walked out to meet the man who was a head taller and a couple of dozen pounds heavier. They exchanged weapons; Prinnus set immediately to examining the beautiful blade, though Terrance's eyes remained on the man who could, in an instant, decide to kill him with his own weapon.

Prinnus said some words in his Hill Folk language, then took some steps back and began swinging the sword this way and that, feeling the weight of it. He turned to one of the men nearby and spoke in what sounded like an order. The man approached Prinnus with a spear, held it out before him level in both hands, then braced as his Patriarch's son brought the blade down through the spear's wooden handle as cleanly as if he'd been carving butter.

After examining the blade for damage and finding nothing but an easily cleaned off mark from cutting the wood, Prinnus returned to stand before Terrance. The two stared at each other a moment before Prinnus surprised both newcomers by saying in Common as he once again traded weapons, "Friends."

Terrance couldn't help but show his relief and, to an extent, delight by letting his own lips spread in a slight smile. He handed Prinnus his own weapons again, saying, "Friends ... yes."

 

[ToniTaylor]

Tamara was thrilled when Valla accepted her invitation to come to the village now. Terrance? Not so much. He was still very aware of how many weapons the Hill Folk were carrying, and he had a very bad feeling that they were likely better with them than the people watching from Harrow Hill.

Making matters even more concerning for him, as they reached the village, Tamara began asking her people to put their weapons away. She tried to reassure them, "We are all friends here."

Tamara's people were slow to put aside their weapons, but most of them did. Terrance and Roland -- the official Guardsmen -- kept their blades on them but in their scabbards, two other men kept their smaller swords, and one of the women -- who ascended the tower earlier -- kept an arrow notched in her bow.

Tamara gave Valla a tour of the village, walking side by side with the woman who was about her own age, maybe a bit older. Terrance and Prinnus followed behind them; each of them spent about half of the time casually and sometimes inconspicuously looking at the other, still yet to feel comfort and safety. The other 6 Hill Folk followed in behind their leaders, sometimes stopping to investigate something they found interesting or didn't recognize at all.

At one point, though, all of their attention fell to one thing: food. One of the first things built that very first day in Harrow Hill was a clay oven for cooking bread, and just before Tamara and Terrance began their walk out to the strangers, several loaves were coming out of the cooker.

"Would you like some?" Tamara asked one of the Hill Folk whose eyes had widened as his nose was filled with a smell he'd never known. "It's made from wheat we brought with us."

Tamara gestured to Valerie, who had been Tamara's cook in the Capital but was everyone's cook here. The woman pulled out a big knife and sliced thick slices of and offered them out to one of the Tribe members after another. In no time, the demeanor of the visit shifted instantly. Tamara couldn't believe how something so simple as a piece of hot bread could affect someone.

"You teach cook this?" Valla asked with a hopeful tone.

"Yes, of course," Tamara said. She looked to Valerie, who nodded in agreement. "The wheat from which it is made must be planted, grown, and harvested. We will not have more of it until the end of the warm summer."

Valla began chatting back and forth with Prinnus and the female archer, then a moment later with a pair of big warrior types. She turned and told Tamara, "You teach grow whit, cook brid. We help."

"Wheat," Tamara corrected with a gentle tone, adding, "and bread. And yes ... we will teach you to grow wheat and harvest it and turn it into bread ... with your help."

The Hill Folk all seemed happy with the news that Valla translated for them. Prinnus spoke to his sister, and she seemed to chastise him for what he said. Tamara was intrigued by the exchange, and even more so when she realized that the big warrior was ogling Valerie's daughter, Marjorie, who was standing near the clay oven.

Valla confirmed Tamara's suspicions when she asked quite seriously, "Are girls for sale?"

Tamara laughed, as did one or two other Harrow Hill residents who had needed some comic relief. Tamara looked to Marjorie and found her wide eyed at the realization that the question had been specifically about her. The Lady of the community said in a casual tone, "We do not sell our women ... or our men. Our women marry ... become wives and the bearers of children to our men..."

And then, although arranged marriages were still common back in the Capital, Tamara added with stress, "...voluntarily ... by their own choice ... because the want to be with a man who wants also to be with them."

Valla's expression told Tamara that she didn't fully understand. She asked for some clarification on some of the words and meanings, such as marry, wife and voluntarily. She spoke to her brother for a moment, then looked to Tamara as she pointed to Marjorie and said with that same serious tone, "My brother marry that wife."

There was more laughter, and even Marjorie -- whose face was now read as a beet -- was giggling in embarrassment. She was of age to wed and bed, but her mother had been an overly protective type; Marjorie had never been alone with a boy or man for any significant amount of time, let along enough time to engage in any intimacy, let alone sex. And she had never spent any time talking about men and sex and other such topics with other girls or with her mother.

She knew what the Hill Folks warrior wanted from her, though, which was the reason for the blush on her face. Her eyes shifted back and forth between Prinnus, Valla, Tamara, and her mother, who was not finding humor in the conversation.

"We can talk about this another day, I think, Valla," Tamara said with as diplomatic a tone as she could muster. "I do not think that our first day of friendship should--"

But Prinnus interrupted, and a moment later Valla explained, "My brother give 5 deer for marry wife."

The hilarity of the conversation was only spreading as other Harrow Hill residents came closer and caught up on what was happening. Tamara was still trying to negotiate an end to this topic, but Valla only made things harder by saying, "Ten deer ... and a bear fur."

Suddenly, Marjorie shocked all involved when she said, "I will marry your brother."

All eyes went to the girl, and stepping forward a bit and looking directly at Prinnus, she said, "I will marry you, m'lord."

"Marjorie, I don't think..." Tamara began.

But she went quiet to consider what was happening and what might happen if she allowed this outrageous match to occur. The Harrow Hill people were already making friendship with the Hill Folk by teaching them how to turn wheat seeds into delicious bread, but what would be the result of marrying some of their women to Valla's Tribe's men ... or some of the Harrow Hill men to Valla's Tribe's women?

"Are you sure about this, Marjorie?" Tamara asked.

Before the girl could answer, her mother stepped up close to her Lady and pleaded in whisper not to allow this match. Tamara listened, looking about at the others involved before turning her attention back to the Cook. "Valerie ... I'm not simply going to hand your daughter over to these people, trust me."

Tamara invited Valla to step away for some quiet conversation; behind them, Prinnus and Marjorie could hardly take their eyes off one another; the villagers were engaging in conversation, some of it laced with laughter; and the other Hill Folk had asked for and received more bread, which they scarfed down eagerly, adding to it a pitcher of goats' milk that Tamara had had fetched.

When the pair of young women returned, Tamara announced, "It is a Hill Folk tradition ... Hill Folk ... Valla and I spoke about what her Tribe calls itself, and when she said they do not have a name, she accepted this one from me. So ... it is Hill Folk tradition that couples are married on the full moon ... which is 9 or 10 days away. We will wait until then before we decide any more on this issue."

 

[ToniTaylor]

More about the Hill Folk

The turn of events was incredible, and it was one of but not the only topic of conversation as the two communities gathered about the village's cooking fire to eat more of what Valerie had prepared for dinner. With the number of mouths increased by 8, it didn't last as long, but everyone filled their belly.

"How do you know Common, Valla?" was the first question Tamara asked when they'd first sat for dinner and conversation. "How is it that you speak the language of the South?"

Valla explained that when she was a little girl, a stranger from the South came upon their village just as a long, harsh winter was about to begin. Her father allowed the man, Daryn, to live with them through the winter on the condition that he taught Valla to speak the language of the South, the Common Tongue.

The man spent several hours nearly every day for the next 5 months with Valla, teaching her to speak the language. He even did his best to teach her to use the Common Tongue's alphabet, though her ability to read and write was only equivalent to that of a child of the south.

"Pappa learn, too," Valla told Tamara. "Not good as me."

"And he, this man, Daryn ... he taught you Common over just one winter?" Tamara asked with amazement.

"Daryn stay 3 years," Valla told Tamara. "Before die."

"Can I ask...?" Tamara inquired tentatively, "how did Daryn die?"

Valla glanced toward her older brother, whose attention had rarely left Marjorie, his future wife, whose own attention had been divided between Prinnus and her duties helping her mother serve dinner to almost 3 dozen people.

"Daryn try teach something not language," Valla answered, adding cryptically, "something Prinnus think I was too young girl to learn."

Valla looked to Tamara to see if the other woman understood. Tamara nodded and said softly, "I understand. And I'm sorry to hear that your teacher hurt you like that."

Ironically -- though she wouldn't explain it to Tamara now or ever -- Valla had welcomed that portion of education from her tutor. And even though no one else knew, even her father had approved. Prinnus, however, had thought his sister had been violated, and he'd put a knife through the Southern Teacher's throat before dragging hin off to the woods where he was left for the animals to eat.

Valla didn't explain any of this to Tamara, and Tamara didn't ask. The Lady of Harrow Hill presumed correctly that Daryn had been killed or, at the very least, exiled from the Hills.

The two women -- with other Southerners sometimes joining in -- continued to talk about the Hills, the Hill Folk, the Southerners, and more for a couple of hours after dark. The concern of the late hour and what was to be done about sleeping arrangements had been addressed earlier; Valla had said that the Hill Folk were very accustomed to simply laying on the ground near a fire to sleep the night away.

Tamara offered to make one of the tents available, but Valla -- and Prinnus when he was brought in on the conversation -- refused. The few Harrow Hill children had long ago been led to their beds; parents followed, as did others until finally only Tamara, Terrance, Roland, and the 2 Night Watch were left awake with the Hill Folk, who themselves had begun making themselves comfortable on the ground about the fire.

It was an awkward situation in some ways to some of the people, on either side. After hours of peaceful and friendly conversation, Tamara felt the Hill Folk could be trusted; Valla was the same way, though she was a bit more cautious. Terrance didn't believe there was a great threat from the Tribe, but it was in his nature to be overly cautious, and he worked demanded that he spend three night in Tamara's tent, ti which his Lady reluctantly agreed.

On the other side, Prinnus -- just as quietly and casually -- spoke to his people and arranged for pairs of 2 of them to remain awake and alert throughout the night in shifts.

Despite the anxiety on both sides, the night passed without incident and the village began waking to the smell of flat bread, eggs, and rabbit cooking over the fire. The Hill Folk had had some squirrel carcasses with them and those that had not been cooked the night before went onto skewers over the fire as well.

The conversation from the night before continued again, but this time as Tamara and Terrance led Valla and Prinnus about Harrow Hill. They spoke of a better construction method for the village's huts and about the future farm that would bring the Hill Folk more of the wheat bread in which they'd fallen in love with on first taste.

As the time approached midday, Prinnus told Valla it was time to leave. They finished their walk and talk, and the Hill Folk departed ... but not before Prinnus located Marjorie and gave her a gift. He took from around his neck a leather thong on which were a dozen wolves teeth.

Marjorie let her betrothed put it around her neck, and after a moment of studying it, asked Valla to wait. Marjorie hurried to her family's tent, then hurried back with a handkerchief on which she had been embroidered with her grandmother, prior to leaving the Capital.

"Tell Prinnus I made this," Marjorie begged of Valla. The Hill Folk girl did, and to Marjorie's delight, Prinnus held the cloth up to his nose, drew a deep breath, and spoke in what sounded like a combination of thankful and even intimately suggestive words. Not knowing what else to say, Marjorie simply told her future husband, "Goodbye for now ... Prinnus."

The big man surprised Marjorie and others by saying with a heavy accent, "Goot-bah, Mar-jor-ree."

Valla urged her brother to get a move on, made her farewells with Tamara, and the Hill Folk headed away. After a moment and a final distant wave, Tamara looked to Terrance and said only, "Well ... that changed things a bit."

 

[ToniTaylor]

"I don't see them as a threat, Captain," Tamara repeated for the fourth or fifth time during their conversation after the departure of the Hill Folk. "They could have killed or kidnapped you and I out there on the hillock away from the village. They could have attacked us at any time here in the village over more than half a day. They didn't. And Prinnus and Marjorie, well, you saw how infatuated the man was for Valerie's daughter. I don't think--"

Terrance laughed aloud, then seeing Tamara's reaction apologized. "With all due respect, m'lady, you don't know these people. And to be so quick and willing to give away the daughter of one of your servants, as some sort of diplomatic exchange of--"

"Marjorie wishes to do this," Tamara cut in, "and I have spoken with her mother about it. Valerie has said that if the marriage will aid in the safety and security of the others, she will permit it."

"Unbelievable," Terrance murmured under his breath.

"No, Captain, I think it is absolutely believable," Tamara said, revealing that she'd heard him just fine. "How is this any different than my own arranged marriage?"

"Well, first, you'd known the man you were betrothed to for more than an hour," Terrance responded.

Tamara quickly reminded the man, "Yes, Captain, I'd known him for five days ... the same amount of time it had taken my betrothed's father to decide to chop my father's head off after defeating his army and taking his Realm."

The tent went quiet for a moment as Tamara tried to control her anger and Terrance tried not to cause his Lady to be angry at all. Finally, after a long moment during which he just stood stiffly and she paced slowly around him and much of the rest of the contents of her living quarters, Tamara told Terrance, "This wedding will take place on the Full Moon. In the meantime, Valla has invited us to visit her Tribe's village in the Hills."

With concern, Terrance began, "But, you're not going to go, of course, because--"

"I will be going, Captain," Tamara cut in, "and you and Roland and three other armed men will be accompanying me ... as will, by Valla's request, Marjorie and her father."

Terrance began to question how this decision had come to be made, and Tamara explained, "I'm not an idiot, Captain. You are right, we don't know these people well enough to make a commitment of giving away our young women, as if trading sheep for furs or swords for gems. We need to know more about the Hill Folk, and the best way to do that without making it obvious that we are surveilling them is to appear as if we are simply introducing Miss Marjorie to the Hill Folk and to the place she will be calling home."

Terrance suddenly had a new appreciation for his Lady. "I approve, then. I still think this should be done without you present, though--"

"No ... no, this only works if I go, too," Tamara said, her tone containing just enough concern in it for Terrance to notice it. She looked to him with a reassuring expression, patting him on the chest as she said, "It will be okay. You will keep me safe, Captain. I have no doubt about it. But...! Just in case, which one of the girls was the one with the archery skills?"

"Two actually," Terrance informed her, "Kirsten ... Marjorie's elder sister, and the Shepherdess, Beverly ... wife of the Carpenter."

"Good, have them come along," Tamara instructed. "I will say that they are Marjorie's chaperones, and I will excuse the bows as being ceremonial ... or simply for our safety, as we are going into an unknown woods."

"The Hill Folk are simple, but they are not stupid," Terrance said. "They will understand that our people are armed because we aren't certain that we can trust them yet, particularly out there in their Hills."

"That's fine," Tamara said simply, not explaining herself any more or commenting on whether or not she cared what Valla, Prinnus, or the other Hill Folk cared. After asking and getting a positive answer as to whether or not the villagers were back to work, Tamara headed out of her tent as she ordered, "I want to you begin training those who will go with us. Valla said she and Prinnus will return in 2 days to show us how they build snow- and cold-resistant huts here in the north."

She looked around at the continuing work, saying, "Valla says she will also bring 6 people to help begin turning the soil for the wheat field. I don't want our people training with weapons while Hill Folk are watching us. Can you put a scout in the woods to look out for them ... to signal their return, so our training is not seen?"

"Yes, m'lady," Terrance said, explaining the options. "I'll get to it immediately."

 

[ToniTaylor]

Roland and Carmen and the surprise

After the Hill Folk had departed, Tamara had called her people together and gave then all an update on the situation. Then, everyone had gotten back to work: some returned to the repair of the Keep's timber supports and roof, though because of a lack of a sawmill and the need to use a hand-drawn saw, there wasn't yet enough wood planks to finish the latter; others practiced swordplay or archery, the former under Terrance's tutelage, the latter under Roland's; and the more Domestic group cooked and performed the more mundane work often thought of as women's work.

The next day the labor moved to the forest again: the laborers cut more timber and gathered rope making material; the archers crept about the woods practicing by killing squirrels, rabbits, and even a doe; and the domestics gathered edibles and cooked the archers' kills over a small fire to feed one and all.

Roland had been tasked by Terrance to investigate the area for signs of the trail the Hill Folk had used you get to Harrow Hill, assuming such a trail existed. The Guardsman did indeed find it; the trampled plants and packed ground -- as well as the plentiful tracks from both people and animals -- indicated that it was a well used trail through the woods to the open valley floor. He and another armed man walked it quietly and cautiously for over half a mile before turning back.

In the process of searching for the trail, Roland also located a small, rocky knoll from which -- through the forest canopy -- was a hint of the distant Keep.

"If we cut down half a dozen trees on this line," he told Terrance as they walked together through the trees, "I believe it would serve well as the lookout location for the Hill Folk return."

They redirected the tree falling to that line. Roland supervised, sometimes walking away from the cutting site back to the knoll to look for the Keep. Little by little, Harrow Hill was becoming more clearly viewed.

On one such return to what would come to be known as the East Lookout, Roland was surprised to find Carmen -- Lady Tamara's Housemaid -- making her way through the trees toward him. She wore a friendly smile on her face and carried a wooden bowl of stew in her hands.

Roland had, of course, taken notice of Carmen. She was young and beautiful and liked to flirt; Roland presumed she did so with more men than him. He was wrong. He also presumed that because of her youth and the oversight that she got from her overly protective mother, Rebecca -- Tamara's Lady's Maid -- that Carmen was innocent and pure. He was about to find out he was wrong about that, too.

"I thought you might be hungry," Carmen told Roland as she searched for a bare patch of ground on which they could sit and eat. She found one, just before an old, ancient fallen tree and sat on her knees. Carmen patted the ground beside her in invitation. Roland joined her and ate from the bowl as they watched each other with yearning gazes.

"Thirsty?" she asked as she unslung a bladder of water from around her neck and shoulder. Roland said yes, but as he reached a hand out for the container, Carmen held it backing, saying with a devilish smile, "Let me help. "

She took the nearly empty bowl from Roland and set it aside. Then, she pulled the front of her dress up past her knees to allow herself to crawl up onto the thighs of the Guardsman's outstretched legs. The expression on Roland's face showed his sincere surprise, if not shock. She held the bladder up to his mouth, lifting it slowly as he drank and stared into her eyes.

She drank from the bladder herself, then capped it and tossed it aside. Carmen leaned into Roland and pressed her mouth to his in what would become a long and erotic kiss. She moved forward over his thighs until her womanhood was pressing against his still solidifying cock. Roland in turn reached his hands out to Carmen's back, then lower to her buttocks, gripping her, groping her, and pulling them harder against each other.

"I want to feel you inside of me, Roland," Carmen whispered as she reached down to unbuckle his belt's bucket. "I need to fill you inside of me."

Roland didn't need to be asked twice; it had been months since he'd last been fucked. As the front of his clothing was being unfastened, he lifted his ass off the ground to pull his trouser down, freeing his a-bit-larger-than-average cock, which was now hard as a rock.

Carmen reached down under her dress, grasping Roland's manhood, and positioning it appropriately. A moment later, after moving his bulbous head to and fro against her wetness to lube it up, she lowered herself upon him. She grimaced and gave out a bit of a cry of pain as he attempted to penetrate her tightness. But after a moment, her muscles gave way to his intrusion, and Carmen lowered her body little by little until the Guardsman was entirely within her.

The Housemaid sat still upon Roland's erection for a long moment, letting her tight pussy become accustomed to his larger size as she returned to kissing him with great passion. Her last lover -- her third in all -- hadn't been as long or as thick around as Roland. But finally, she was ready, and Carmen began working Roland in and out of her with increasing speed and length of stroke.

It was only a few seconds of active fucking, though, before Roland gave out a guttural groan of satisfaction at his cock spewing its contents into Carmen's depths. She slowed, then stopped, to let the man enjoy his orgasm. His head had fallen back against the log and his body was trembling as he gasped for air with loud moans that eventually faded to simply death breaths of euphoria.

Carmen let Roland enjoy the aftermath of emptying his balls inside her, then -- just as quickly as she'd started it all -- lifted up off the man's spear, stood, and told him, "I should get back."

Roland's immediate reaction was to ask, "You're leaving already?"

Carmen giggled. "We will do this again tomorrow ... yes?"

Roland was disappointed; he was still rock hard and would have loved to put Carmen on her back or her hands and knees while he knocked out another climax. But he was feeling so good that he nodded, saying only, "Yes."

Over the next four days, the pair of them would sneak off to be with each other another dozen times. Carmen enjoyed the sex, more than she every had with another man. But it wasn't just the ecstasy -- which she began to experience with each encounter, too -- that kept bringing Carmen back to the Guardsman. She needed to establish in his mind and then later in the minds of others who would learn of the sexual relationship that Roland's seed had found its way into her womb ... where her last lover's baby was already growing.

 

[ToniTaylor]

Midday, 2 days after they had first visited, the Hill Folk returned to Harrow Hill. Upon hearing and then seeing their visitors coming, the East Lookout loosed toward the Keep a Whistler, an arrow designed to whistle as it flew.

The villagers had been instructed to look unconcerned while simultaneously preparing themselves in case the return of the locals was not peaceful. The children were quietly gathered inside the Keep, using a temporary staircase; those who had been training with weapons retrieved them but kept them hidden, with the exception of the 4 official Guardsman.

But the defense preparations turned out to be for naught as the Hill Folk had indeed come as friends. Leading the company were Valla and Prinnus, and behind them was a new face, the siblings' pappa and Partriankarra of the Hill Folks, a man Tamara would soon enough learn was named Rondo.

Behind those three family members came a train of Hill Folk that surprised Tamara. They walked single file -- not unusual through the woods on a trail -- and most of them were paired up with one or sometimes two poles between them, supported on shoulders and supporting some good beneath them.

As they emerged from the forest, the Hill Folk -- who numbered 18, more than Tamara had expected by far -- revealed themselves to be carrying 6 deer carcasses and dozens of squirrels, o'possums, and other medium and small sized mammals, two of which Tamara had never even seen before.

They also carried what she initially thought were blade weapons but would soon realize were handled tools for cutting smaller trees for their way of building huts. Several of the Hill Folk were carrying fur backpacks as well, bags filled with food and other goods made from what the forest had to offer.

Tamara welcomed their neighbors, and as people from both communities got to work gutting and skinning those animals that hadn't already been slaughtered, Tamara invited the three related Hill Folk into her tent for a conversation.

She found herself immediately impressed with Rondo ... and, if she was to be honest, very attracted. He was well over 6 feet tall and muscularly built, with a massive chest and powerful arms. He was handsome as well and wore a thick, bushy beard.

And it was obvious that Rondo found Tamara attractive as well. Upon hearing that the Hill Folk were coming, Tamara had gone to her tent to have her Lady's Maid help her out of her work clothes and into her finest dress. She'd cleaned up her dirty hands, had her face lightly painted, and put up her hair. It wasn't quite the appearance she would have made back in the Capital, but it was close.

Rondo's gaze repeatedly fell to Tamara's well displayed bosom and thin waist during the discussion, and Tamara knew the man wanted her. And, again being honest, she wanted him. He was well more than twice her age, yet Tamara found him delicious and wanted nothing more than to take her clothes off and surrender her virginity.

 

[ToniTaylor]

The morning prior to the arrival of the Hill Folk had been productive, but -- with the additional help -- the afternoon and evening saw incredible progress.

Prinnus, with Valla translating, led half of their people and half a dozen Harrow Hill residents to the forest to collect the needs for building a northern hut. Back at the village a couple of hours later, the two peoples working as one built two structures. One was twice the interior volume of the other, and the framing was much different, but otherwise, they were the same.

In the end, the buildings reminded Tamara of the hay stacks she'd see in the Autumn back home, except that these homes had a more pointy top. They were built of cut and bent saplings and the more flexible branches cut from larger trees, all weaved together.
A second, less material-consuming inner wall heels grass against the outer wall as insulation against the winter cold.

There roofs made of the peeled bark of a type of straight growing, Northern deciduous tree Tamara had only seen after arriving in her exile. Layered from bottom to top, Valla said they would keep the rain out for several years before needing to be replaced.

Each of the huts had a central fire pit that exhausted through a hole in the center of the roof which was protected from rainfall with a lid that could be raised and lowered with a long stick. Bed frames were built and covered in leaves and grass for comfort and added warmth. Space beneath them was for a variety of possessions, freeing up space to move about.

At the same time that the huts were being built, Tamara and Rondo were supervising the preparation of a wheat field. The Hill Folk's Chief had provided some crucial information about the seasons, climate, snow fall, and spring thaw and runoff. This had caused Kendall, the Farm Boss, to adjust his planting concept; he marked out three different wheat plantings at different elevations and relationship to the river, hoping that all three would fair well but certain that at least one would.

The wild grass of areas to be planted was quickly cut with a scythe and gathered to feed the stock animals in the days to come. Then, 4 of Rondo's men harnessed themselves to the plow and pulled it across the land with ease. One field was done so quickly that Kendall suggested they cut through it again perpendicularly.

When they were finished, Kendall remarked that he'd never seen a field more prepared in so little time in his life. They moved on the plow a second field after a meal as women from both peoples worked together to plant Harrow Hill's first wheat field.

As night fell and all gathered about the fire for dinner, the mood was far less anxious and far more pleasant than it had been that first night two days earlier. Each group entertained the other with song and dance, even trying to teach their own dance to their counterparts.

(More to come...)