The Fallen Prince (F/M) (Fantasy) (Part 31 added)

[charliesmith]

Amazing cliffhanger. Waiting for the next chapter

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo Thanks for commenting enjoy part ten!

Chapter 10

With her magic it hadn’t been hard for Tanis to capture Lothair right where he stood, but to be frank, it was also redundant. Fear froze Lothair where he stood before Tanis spell got to him, to the point that at first he didn’t realize he was being paralyzed by a spell and not just his fear.

Once she had him paralyzed, Tanis grabbed rope which she conveniently had laying around among the many things that filled her room, and used them to bind Lothair. She tied his hands behind his back and his ankles together before reaching for something to use as a gag.

“I thought I had already told you” Tanis said as she slowly pushed a piece of cloth inside Lothair mouth, taking advantage of his paralyzed state “You can’t hide from me”

Tanis then tied a cloth around Lothair’s head and she did so tightly to ensure the cloth she had placed inside his mouth wouldn’t come out any time soon.

With that done Tanis ended her spell and with a gentle push she threw Lothair down the floor, where he landed against the desk where he once had been tied up by Tanis, although in circumstances much less dire.

“You have behaved very badly my prince” Tanis said as she looked down on Lothair “I believe your mother would want to hear of this”

“Mpghg!” Lothair moaned, mustering up all the courage he had to raise his voice at Tanis.

“Please behave while I go get her” Tanis said as she left the room “You wouldn’t want me to punish you, would you?”

Lothair would regret not trying anything while he was alone for a long time, at the time he was too frightened to do anything. His mind could not process the failure he had committed and his thoughts got lost in all the possible ramifications of it. What would be of him and what would be of Jean were the most important questions in his mind.

Maybe he would have been able to accomplish anything anyway, since Tanis arrived back with his mother in a very short time.

It had been slightly more than a year since the last time his mother had seen him tied up and it was not in any way better this time. Shame still riddled his body as his mother’s eyes looked at him in this pitiful state, and just thinking about what Tanis could have told her already made him scared.

“Lothair what is the meaning of this!?” Eliza demanded to know.

“He can’t answer you right now…” Tanis said “He’s all out of lies”

The fact that Tanis had chosen that as a justification and not the gag in his mouth made Lothair raise his gaze to look at her, but he quickly looked down again when he saw his mother.

“Is it true Lothair?” Eliza asked regretfully “Did you really help Jean kill her father?”

“Mpghgh!?” Lothair moaned.

The question of what lies Tanis had planted in his mother plagues Lothair’s mind, how could his mother believe that? How could she believe that he was capable of such an act? He wondered as he tried explain himself through his gag, begging for it to be removed convinced that if he could explain his case his mother would understand.

“I had my suspicions by this made it clear my queen” Tanis said as she grabbed a vial from her desk “I found this while I was searching him, after running a few tests on it I have no doubts that this is poison, which upon comparison with the one found in the wine that killed Hartgard has proved to be exactly the same”

“Mpghg!?” Lothair screamed through his gag.

“Silence!” Eliza demanded.

Despite the situation, Lothair found it impossible to disobey his mother’s order and quickly became silent, and he stayed silent while Tanis explained all of her fake story to his mother.

In actuality this something that Tanis would have rather not done. She would have much preferred to control the prince as he became king and not have to make up convoluted plans, but at the time this was the only way she could keep her plan in motion while avoiding all of the blame for what she had done.

Among her many talents, Tanis was a skilled liar, and all of the fake evidence she presented to the queen was so convincing that at some point Lothair began to wonder if she wasn’t speaking the truth. Anyone who heard her would have been convinced of Lothair’s guilt on the spot, but Tanis wasn’t talking to anyone, she was talking to Lothair’s mother.

“If what you’re saying is true, which it seems to be, Lothair is guilty of a horrible crime and as such he should be met with an appropriate punishment” Eliza spoke after hearing Tanis story “But I would still like to hear what he has to say”

Tanis pretended not be angry or worried at the queen’s demand and simply complied with it, putting on the façade of the fateful servant she had kept for such a long time. She left the Eliza alone with her son in the room, but stayed very close to the door to ensure she would not miss anything of what was happening inside.

“I already heard Tanis story, which seems worryingly believable” Eliza said as she removed her son’s gag “What do you have to say about it”.
“I did not do it” Lothair said “How can you believe that mom?”

“Don’t try to play with my emotions boy” Eliza said sternly “No matter if you are my son or the heir to the throne, a murder is still unforgivable so unless you can give me definitive proof against this accusation I’ll consider you as such”

Lothair went silent, what proof did his mother want? He simply was not to blame and he knew it, the poison wasn’t his, he did not have any intention of killing Jean’s father, what more was there to say.

“I did not kill him…” Lothair murmured “Tanis did”

Eliza was surprised by the answer, so she heard what his son had to say.

“She disguised as you to give a stolen wine to Jean, the wine that then killed Hartgard”

Tanis, who was hearing the conversation through the ears of her winged serpent, was about to barge into the room under any excuse to stop the prince from keeping talking, even though what he said would have probably to swung his mother much, Tanis didn’t want to risk her plans being foiled.
But soon the excuse to interrupt them presented itself.

“Tanis, have you seen the queen!?” A high ranking guard asked as he ran across Tanis.

“She is inside this room” Tanis asked, surprised by the guard’s sudden appearance.

“I must inform her of something, it’s a matter of grave importance” The guard spoke “Jean, the murderer of Hartgard, has escaped”

Without a second thought Tanis barged into the room to tell the news to the queen which quickly worried her enough to step outside the room and ask the guard for further details.

The guard couldn’t help but get a glimpse of the bound prince inside Tanis’ room, but he didn’t ask questions. But the queen, who catch him looking inside, was reminded of the situation, which prompted her to say something which froze Lothair’s blood.

“Tanis, take him to his room and make sure that he doesn’t leave” She said “I will go take care of this”

“You heard your mother boy” Tanis said as she grabbed Lothair by an arm “Get up”

Lothair thanked everyone being too busy with Jean’s escape since that had left the castle walkways too empty for many people to be left to notice that he was being taken to his room tied up. But he still felt the look of those few who were left piercing him like daggers.

When they arrived to his room Tanis locked the door and pushed the prince onto a chair and quickly began to tie him to it. She tied a rope around his waist to pin him to the back and tightly attached the ropes around his hands to the ones around his ankles.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what is happening Lothair” Tanis said as she stood in front of the prince “I know very well you helped Jean escape, and I have all of the guards who saw you go into the dungeons to give testimony of it”

“How do you know...?”

“I told you, you can’t hide from me” Tanis said “I was watching you the whole time, so you can image what I saw and how that can be used against you”

“Then you have seen that I know you are the murderer” Lothair replied.

“Do you think that matters?” Tanis asked “No matter what I have done, if I can convince your mother of your guilt I can convince everyone”

Tanis then sat on Lothair’s lap, which caused him to twitch and try to get away to no avail. He was afraid of how true what Tanis had said sounded, and he feared having her so close to him.

“But it doesn’t have to be this way you know…” Tanis said as she draped her hands over Lothair’s shoulders “If you can forget all that you think you know; I can make you go back to your peaceful pretty prince life”

Lothair stayed silent as Tanis appeared to be getting closer and closer to him with each word she spoke.

“Otherwise things can go pretty badly for you” Tanis said with her face inches away from Lothair’s “Jean’s family is already asking to put her on trial, and now that she has escaped they are very likely to ask to put you on trial”

Lothair looked away, that couldn’t happen, he did not want to believe that there was any sense to what Tanis was saying.

“There you will be most likely found guilty, normally that would mean execution, but you know that members of the royal family can’t be executed” Tanis said “You would be sent to blacktomb, and if that happens you will never see the light of day again”

“Bullshit” Lothair replied “You killed Hartgard and you will pay for it, no matter how many lies you tell everyone will know the truth, and once that happens you will be the one being executed”

“Oh my, you seem really angry at me” Tanis said teasingly “Do you really think that? Do you really hate me that much that you want to see me executed?”

“Yes, it is what you deserve!” Lothair replied.

“Well, your body doesn’t seem to agree with you” And after saying this Tanis reached down to Lothair crotch.

Only then did he notice what Tanis was pointing out. His cock was fully erect, throbbing like when Tanis had tied him to her desk that night years ago. He blushed as he felt Tanis’ hand grab it, his face turned red, he was ashamed of being even slightly aroused in that situation.

“It seems like you don’t really hate me that much…” Tanis said as she slid her hand along Lothair’s member.

Even while still fully dressed, Lothair felt completely exposed as he felt Tanis’ hand on his cock through his pants, he felt vulnerable, more than he had ever felt in all of his life.

“If you agree to comply with me, maybe I can help you with this too…” Tanis said as she kept on moving her hand.

“Never!” Lothair shouted as he clenched his eyelids and tried to get away from Tanis.

When Lothair felt the weight of Tanis move away from him he opened his eyes again, he was breathing heavily and his heart was pumping at a painfully fast pace.

“I see” Tanis sighed as she adjusted her clothes “Let’s see what you say once you realize how bad this can get for you”

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo Thanks for commenting enjoy part ten!

Chapter 11

While Lothair was trapped inside his room Tanis made quick work of spreading rumors that sentenced the prince way before the trial. Truth is, there was a quite large number of people who were almost glad upon hearing the supposed prince’s doings since it gave them a very good reason to dislike him other than the more superficial ones that they already had.

If the prince was found guilty he would be removed from the succession line, which would mean that someone else had to take his place. And there were enough relatives of the royal family around the continent for the court nobles to choose from.

And once Tanis had made sure that she had skewed public opinion against the prince she returned to her tower and sat down on her desk, she slouched and lost her gaze in the ceiling as she began to think about what to do with the escaped Jean.

The task of dealing with her seemed more annoying than difficult to Tanis, but she remembered something that brought a smile to her face. She had never considered that what she remembered would become useful ever again, but she was more than pleased when she did.

The guards ceased to chase Jean once she crossed the threshold that divided the regular dungeons from the ones that had fallen to abandonment. Dark corridors from which rumors said that cries could be heard from.

So under the sole light of a torch she stole, Jean ran deeper and deeper as she prayed to be remembering Lothair’s instructions correctly, because if she did not all she would accomplish with her escape would be getting lost in the dark corridors of the abandoned dungeons.

Once Jean reached the open cylindrical space Lothair had told her about she took the road he had told her lead to a secret exit from the castle that would land her on safe ground on the other side.

As the light of her torch reached the walls Jean began to see traces that she would have preferred to ignore. The walls were scratched, marked by things far bigger than whatever a human should be capable of. And the relief that seeing that she had taken the correct path upon reaching a large hall did not made her forget those marks.

The hall was long and flanked by columns, on its hay day it served as an underground throne room, a relict left from the first castle which had been built by dwarves for the humans, and as it was tradition among them they placed the most important rooms underground.

But needless to say the hall was far from what it was at its peak, walls and columns cracked, some even bearing the same mysterious marks Jean had seen on the walkways, and eroded by the passage of time.

Unbeknownst to her, an old inhabitant of the dungeons was tracking Jean. The lindwurm hatchling which Tanis had bought eight years ago had matured into an adult, but the conditions of the dungeons had turned it into a corruption of what a Lindwurm should be.

Its scales had become pale and its eyes pitch black due to the darkness. It had not been able to reach the usual size expected for the adults of its species, but what it lacked in size it made up for in temper. The isolation had turned the beast into an aggressive and ill-tempered monster, prone to aggression to whatever could be perceived as food.

Tanis had kept the creature alive by occasionally feeding it in secret, thinking that maybe someday it could be of use to her again, but she did not feed it often in purpose, leaving it to rely on rats and whatever else it could find in the depths of the dungeons, which often was unfortunate people who delved too deep in the dungeons and couldn’t find their way out.

Jean made a stop when she reached a large crack in the hall, the room had been split by time and now a large body of water laid between her and the rest of the room. If Lothair had been truthful, the water should be shallow, but even still Jean was hesitant to step inside the black void which the water appeared to be.

It was during those seconds of hesitance that the lindwurm made its attack. It lunged at Jean from behind, she was quick enough to react when she heard it leap to lunge at her, but the only escape route she managed to take was before her, into the water.

Although the beast’s teeth didn’t reach her, its snout hit her on the back and made her fall face down into the water, which thankfully cushioned her fall. Jean raised her head above the water as she gasped for air, but only had her eyes open for long enough to see the huge beast step over the torch and extinguish it.

Jean was left soaked in the water, alone with the lindwurm hunting her. As it is obvious, the darkness was not an impediment for the beast, who could smell Jean and hear her breath, but it was a very large impediment for the young woman, who’s thoughts raced as she refused to believe this to be the end.

And as if the gods heard her thoughts, a light illuminated the room once again. It was of a pale blue color and it came from beneath the water at a slight distance from Jean, who immediately turned to look at it.

Also noticing the intrusion of light the linduwurm also looked at the light which reflected off its inky black eyes. Seemingly angered by its presence the beast showed its teeth in the light’s direction.

As both hunter and prey watched the light, a breeze of impossible nature blew across the hallway, and more surprising than the wind itself was that Jean sworn that she heard a voice speaking in it, and it was speaking to her.

“Come reach me, savior of the kingdom…” A voice whispered in the wind.

Jean ran at the light and the lindwurm ran behind her, and although Jean had a head start, slowed down by the water as she was the lindwurm managed to knock her down. Jean crawled on the water as the lindwurm prepared its jaws for her, she extended her hand and reached forward for the light.

Under the water, she felt herself grab the pummel of a sword, she immediately adjusted her grip to the handle and drew the weapon out of the water. The light which emanated from the edge turned brighter as the sword was taken out of the water, the lindwurm became blinded for a second which Jean took advantage to drive the sword into the beast’s chest.

The lindwurm fell dead to the water which soon began to be filled with blood. Jean took a look at the sword she had mysteriously found in the water, its silvery blade was extremely sharp and its handle was of elegant craftsmanship, but when Jean realized she was losing herself in the refection she saw on the amber stone incrusted on the blade’s guard she decided that she could waste no more time.

The sword kept shinning and illuminating Jean’s path until she left the dungeons and the city as a whole, Jean hid below the shade of a large oak tree and rested the sword besides her. She had just lost everything, and now she had to find a way to get it back.

Inside the palace, particularly inside Lothair’s room, he was served his dinner inside his room and not on the usual dining hall. This only happened when he was sick, so having it happen now was a clear indicator of the fact that thigs were still far from normal.

When maids and guards came into the room to untie him so he could eat his food Lothair felt a shame that he could only compare to being seen tied up by his mother. For the brief moment he was tied up in their presence he was at the complete mercy of the people who usually served him, and who now seemed to look at him with pity if not disgust.

Once the two maids were done untying him they left the room, and so did one of guards who had entered to see that the prince didn’t try anything while untied, the other guard stayed behind to instruct Lothair to knock on the door when he was done with his food.

The food in question was a soup, it did not occur to Lothair at the time but the choice was very deliberate as to not give him any cutlery which he could use to harm others or himself. He ate the food in complete silence, he still couldn’t believe what was happening.

Even though he was still sure of Jean’s innocence and his, he could not help but ponder about what Tanis had told him, because if she was right and the truth really didn’t matter, what was going to be of him? Was he really going to be taken to jail like Tanis had said?

Lothair wanted to cling on to the hope of being able to prove his innocence during a trial, but he couldn’t help but doubt. He had never been a good public speaker and he knew that many would be quick to mistake his shyness and awkward mannerisms for the behavior of a liar.

The only hope he could cling to was that at least Jean had escaped, but that could only taste as a bittersweet victory since he knew very well that outside of the dungeons, she had been left with no place to be.

---

Lothair finished the soup and one of the guards went away with the plate after locking the door again, and not too long after the door was opened again. Fearing that his mother, or even worse, Tanis were the ones entering his room, Lothair was pleased to see that it was none of them.

Inside came Amelina, who looked as regretful as his mother when she laid eyes on him. Despite the guards advice she ordered to be left alone in the room, where she sat at the edge of the prince’s bed, sighed and then looked at him.

“Your mother has sent me here to inform you about what is going to happen” She spoke “It’s not good, but neither is what you have been accused of doing”

“Do you believe what Tanis said?” Lothair asked with disbelief.

“It is not just Tanis” Amelina replied “Everyone on the castle is already talking about you and the murder you supposedly committed, how you killed Jean’s father to be able to marry her”

“You can’t believe that!”

“It is what you have been accused of and it is what you are going to be put on trial for” Amelia replied sternly “Whether it is true or not, it will have to be settled there”

After hearing his instructor again, it became clear that he would not be able to convince her of anything, Lothair had known her for a long time and she was someone who trusted laws and orders more than she trusted people, so of course she wasn’t going to be swayed by what he had to say.

“As of now no lawyer has volunteered to represent you, and if that remains the case you will have to represent yourself, in which case I can only hope that you payed attention to my lessons” Amelina said “Other than that I can only tell you to rest well, you will need it”

“When will the trial take place?” Lothair asked as he noticed Amelina getting ready to leave the room.

“In two days”

“What!?” Lothair asked with disbelief.

“Your mother already has enough trouble dealing with angry nobles, so be thankful she at least gave you a day to prepare” Amelina replied, seemingly offended by Lothair’s question “Where it to be as other people are demanding and you would already be in jail…”

Lothair didn’t need Amelina to tell him who those other people were, he was sure that he knew at least one of them.

“You will be informed if anything changes, but as of now you are confined to your room” Amelina said as she prepared to leave.

Needless to say Lothair found it hard to fall asleep in those circumstances, afraid, nervous and worried as he was, all that came to his mind when he closed his eyes were images of being surrounded by an angry mob in the court while everyone demanded to have him executed, nightmarish jail cells, the look of profound disappointment in his mother’s eyes and that evil smile on Tanis’ lips.

But despite his fear, Lothair never considered taking upon Tanis’ offer, despite the terror that filled his heart and mind never once did he stop to rethink his initial answer of ‘never!’.

[crow3467]

Thanks for adding 2 chapters in a row I really enjoyed reading them

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo Thanks for commenting enjoy part twelve!

Chapter 12

Tanis sat calmly inside her room when she felt a disturbance which was ignored by everyone but the most powerful mages in the region, and there weren’t many aside from her. It was a surge of magical energy, like if she had felt the shockwaves produced by huge but very distant explosion.

Rarely did Tanis feel fear, and this time was not an exception, but the sorceress did felt the hairs on her nape bristle, and that was more than what she usually felt.

Despite already having a very strong suspicion of the cause, Tanis uncovered her crystal, only to see its once perfectly smooth surface cracked, showing her that what she felt had indeed been real. Angered by seeing her artifact broken, she asked the sphere to be shown the origin of such power. And with an event so great the crystal was very quick to show Tanis exactly what she suspected.

Inside the sphere Tanis saw a tall drying tree, its wood blackened and no leaves seen on its branches. It stood lonely above the tree line of the forest that surrounded, and winged creatures flew in circles around it. There was only one thing, or better said, someone, there who could perform such act as to disturb Tanis.

In a hurry, Tanis removed the carpet that covered the floor of her room, hastily tossing it and everything on top of it aside with a spell. Then she grabbed a tiny box filled with chalk, and using the white powder she began to draw on the floor.

With the chalk she inscribed a circle, and she surrounded it with ancient runes in a language older than that of the kingdom. Had the few who were able to read it laid eyes on it, the inscription would have read ‘to the tree of trees, the birthplace of life and forge of the ancients’

Once Tanis was done with the circle, she joined her fingers, closed her eyes and chanted the incantation she had inscribed on the floor. In an instant she was transported to a place far away from the castle, but well within the borders of the kingdom of Drael, in fact, right at its heart.

Tanis stood in the middle of overgrown ruins, a crumbling structure upon which the same circle she had inscribed in her room was carved. Plants covered columns, walls and the few that was left of the ceiling.

Tanis walked through what once was a grandiose walkway in the middle of a magnificent city, now covered by blackened dry foliage which slowly consumed what was left of the place. At the end of the walkway was a large stone state of a woman, which much like the rest of the structures had been covered with vines and roots.

Tanis looked at the statue’s face with contempt, she knew who she was seeing there.

The walkway ended in a fallen bridge which once lead toward the massive tree in front of it, the same blackened leafless tree which Tanis had seen in the crystal sphere.

From the bushes emerged a creature to which Tanis paid no attention as she was already expecting him, it was the warden of the tree, a hybrid between a man and an elk, with most of its body covered by a mantle of leaves and only its bestial face being seen.

“What brings you here mistress?” The creature asked.

“I must talk to the prisoner” Tanis replied “Take me inside the tree”

“As you command”

The creature revealed on of its arms from below the cloak, it was hairy but human, he held a wooden staff which he pointed towards the opposite end of the broken bridge, and after he recited an incantation, the gap on the bridge began to be closed by plants which rapidly extended its branches to make the tree walkable again.

The creature bowed at Tanis as she walked past him and made way for her to walk through the bridge.

After Tanis walked over the gap which the bridge crossed she walked through a crevice in the tree’s bark and inside the tree.

Being so large, the space inside was also big, a tall space filled with vines and roots, at the bottom was a pool of the tree’s sap, a golden liquid which continued to bleed from the tree years after it had started dying. The golden glow of the sap illuminated the room, casting shadows above it.

A stone bridge stood over the pool of golden glowing sap which cascaded from the walls of the tree, it went on for good distance but ended in a circular stone platform in the middle of the room, over which hung a bulb of yellow and green color, the heart of the dying tree which slowly palpitated as it profusely bleed more golden sap.

The bulb itself was tightly wrapped in black chains against which it struggles to palpitate, but the chains were not just wrapping the bulb, someone was chained to it too.

I was a dryad, a spirit of nature in the shape of a woman. Her skin was of a light green color, her hair red and bush as autumn leaves. She was tall and thin, her body stretched by the chains holding her prisoner. She was dressed in a ragged bodysuit made of orange leaves, with the torn gaps revealing parts of her shapely legs and flat abdomen.

Her arms were extended above her head, manacled at the wrists and elbows. Over her chest ran chains above and below her breasts, nearly pressing them out of her torn clothes, and another chain pinned her waist to the dying heart. Her legs were pressed together by chains at the thighs, above and below the knees and at the ankles, making her flesh on her thighs poke out because of the tightness of the restraints.

Her face was contorted by a ballgag of the same black color of the chains, it was tightly buckled behind her head and pressed deep behind her teeth. It made her drool and a large pool of saliva had formed below her out of the liquid that had fallen down her chin for a long, long time.

When Tanis entered the room the dryad was looking down, but she quickly turned her gaze at the sorceress when she heard the tree bark open for her. Although the dryad had remained stoic during her long captivity, her expression now defaulted to show the tiredness brought by it.

“It pleasures me to see that every time I see come here you appear to be weaker” Tanis said as she stopped before the imprisoned dryad and looked up to see her “Slowly but surely this land dies, and with it you”

The dryad, who had her blue eyes fixed on the sorceress since she had seen her enter the tree, looked at Tanis without showing any emotions, appearing to be unbothered by what she said and with her tired expression remaining on her face.

“Yet something tells me that you aren’t actually as powerless as you seem” Tanis said as she walked up stone step to get closer to the bulb to which the dryad was chained “A strong surge of magic power came from here a few moments ago, what did you do?”

The dryad’s eyes met with Tanis’, she had hoped she would not notice her actions, but apparently she had underestimated the sorceress. But she showed no threat of fear, this was a risk she was willing to take if it meant saving the land she was meant to protect.

Tanis reached up and with a swift movement she removed the ballgag from the dryad’s mouth and left the saliva soaked object hanging around the prisoner’s neck.

“I can’t remember the last time I removed this from your mouth” Tanis said “You should cherish this moment, who knows for how long I will leave it on the next time”

Alcinne looked down with her eyes filled with sadness, while time passed different for a being like her, Tanis’ words reminded her of how long she had spent there, chained to the dying heart of the forest. And that reminded her of her failure, and how because of it Tanis was now running rampant, destroying the kingdom in her way.

“What did you do Alcinne?” Tanis demanded to know.

Alcinne looked back at the sorceress, even a being like her could feel hate when she gazed upon someone like Tanis. But she measured her response, anger hadn’t done her any good so far, she knew it this moment wouldn’t be the exception.

“I’m just making sure a prophecy is fulfilled” The dryad responded “You should know; you reign of terror can’t last forever”

“Prophecy?” Tanis chuckled “That is but a tale for hopeless humans, and in your condition you are in no condition to fulfill their stupid prophecy”

“But you still felt my power” Alcinne said “Turns out even in this condition, harmed and chained as I am, I still have the power to start the prophecy”

Tanis grinned, the Dryad’s calm words angered her, did she really think she couldn’t get away from taking the kingdom from right below her nose? Tanis doubted it.

“You may be able to start it, but I doubt you have the power to end it” Tanis said as she reached to Alcinne’s neck to gag her again “But even if you have, I will always have more chains”

As swiftly as she had removed it Tanis re applied the gag on the dryad’s mouth with the same tightness she had done so long ago when she had gagged the dryad after a brief interrogation much like this one.

Alcinne glared at Tanis as she saw her slowly walk out of the tree, which again closed its bark, trapping the dryad inside again.

Alcinne had stayed like she was since Tanis defeated when she first entered the kingdom, and slowly Tanis had drained the blood of the tree which gave her power, and she forced her to watch.

The sorceress had taken full advantage of Alcinne’s supernatural condition when imprisoning her, since she didn’t need water or food, only sunlight, the sorceress had kept her permanent chained and weakened in darkness.

But even after years of captivity Alcinne felt the need to stop Tanis, she doubted that anyone else knew it, but the sorceress intentions with the kingdom were far darker than imprisoning an innocent prince.

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo Thanks for commenting enjoy part twelve!

Chapter 13

As night passed by and Lothair did not found any ease to sleep. His mind was still restless, keeping him awake with visage of the worst future he could imagine, and that at the time seemed like the only future he could ever hope for.

After all Lothair was slowly becoming certain that he had no hopes in the trial that was being prepared for him. Whether it be due to fear, pessimism, or both things and more stacked together, the prince could not imagine himself coming on top of that procedure.

As he gave it thought he realized that he had no evidence, all he had were baseless accusations of Tanis being the one to blame for the crime everyone was already convinced that he committed, and to make things worse his accusers had plenty of things to blame on him, mainly that he had helped Jean escape.

As all that he had against him began to pile over him and weigh Lothair down like a pile of rocks he began to think that he could not be there, that castle was no longer a place for him and he needed to find a way out. Of course Amelina had been clear when she had told him that he was now confined to his room and he didn’t doubt that the entrance to it was still being guarded, but he knew he had other ways to get out.

After all, he thought that if somehow he managed to escape he would be able to get time to prove to his kingdom that he was not to blame for the crimes he had been accused of, and that the real culprit laid elsewhere.

Where to go and what to do he thought he could figure out later at its due time, but during that night escaping the castle was so high in the prince’s list of priorities that he barely gave any thought to what he should do afterwards.

But if he had indeed escaped this story would not have been written, maybe a very different one on its place, but there is no way of knowing.
Because much to the prince’s dismay, fate decided for his mother to be getting ready for bed at that exact time, and by mere chance she decided to have a look out her window before doing so. And that was when she laid eyes on her son.

Through the open window of his room Eliza saw him work on something on his desk, she was quickly able to tell that he was not reading, he was moving too much for that to be the case. To find out what exactly he was doing Eliza had to make use of a spyglass, something she did not realize could be useful to have in her room until that time, and when he saw what her son was doing she immediately left her room.

Still dressed in her nightgown, the queen paced rapidly but with a calm demeanor through the halls and walkways of the castle, trying her best not to cause alarm with her presence.

Of course she was still hard to ignore, it was rare to see her walk around the castle so late in the night, let alone do so while so dressed in just her nightgown. The many people who asked her what she was doing received the brief reply of ‘I need to see my son’ followed by the immediate refusal of any help that she was offered.

The guards in front of Lothair’s room did not present any objections when the queen demanded to be let inside and did not stop her from closing the door once she was inside.

Since the prince was so absorbed in his task the scare brought to him by the sudden entrance of her mother in his room was much stronger, nearly making him fall off his chair when he heard the door creaking as it was opened and making his heart nearly stop when he saw who had entered. And this was only made worse by the fact that he knew very well that what he was doing was not something he should have done.

On his desk his mother could see a long stretch of bed sheets, the soft white tissues now tied to each other, making a long and presumably strong rope that he knew his son could only use for one thing.

“Really Lothair?” Eliza sighed.

“Mom you have to listen to me…” Lothair tried to argue.

“No, I believe I don’t have anything worth hearing from you” Eliza said regretfully “Even though I would like to believe that my son is not a murderer, It seems evidence is stacking against you and I can’t argue against it”

“But I’m not a murderer mom…”

“Then why are you trying to escape!?” Eliza asked, her anger beginning to show through her disappointment.

Lothair fell silent, somehow all the feelings that had lead him to try to escape were not present now, but after all they were just that, feelings, and he knew his mother could not be swayed by feelings alone.

“I will not tell the guards about this Lothair, but I need you to behave” Eliza continued “If you are not guilty, you will prove so in court, that’s it”
Lothair sighed as he began to undo the make shift rope he had been trying to make with his bedsheets.

“Consider this the last motherly love I will show you for a while” Eliza said as she watched her son undo his work “You know what would happen if the court found out that you tried to escape”

“Thank you…” Lothair spoke lowly, feeling like he had little more to say.

When he was done undoing the rope he began to rearrange his bed, still trying to avoid laying eyes on his mother whose judgmental look he could feel even while facing away from her.

“Lay on the bed Lothair” Eliza said as her son worked on the bed.

Eliza’s orders came as a surprise to Lothair, who had them repeated to him once he failed to obey them on first instance.

Once Lothair was laying on his bed Eliza grabbed some of the bedsheets he had not yet reapplied to the bed and walked towards her son.

Inadvertently she grabbed one of her son’s hands by the wrists and began to wound one of the bedsheets around it.

“Mom, what are you doing?” He asked.

“Making sure you don’t try to escape again” Eliza said as she began to tie the bedsheet to the headboard “Otherwise you might try this again, and if you do so you might get caught, so consider this my way of helping you”

“Mom you don’t have to do this” Lothair argued.

“I’m doing this for your own sake, so stay quiet and give me your other hand, I need to tie you up” Eliza ordered sternly.

With no way of fighting against his mother Lothair allowed himself to be tied up by his mother without complaints. He gave her both of his hands to be bound above his head and allowed her to tie both of his ankles to the bottom edge of the bed. In the end he ended up tied spread eagled with soft yet strong restraints that were once meant to be his escape tool.

“I hope you do well in the trial” Was the last thing Eliza said before walking to the door “Goodnight”

Again Lothair found himself alone in his room, only that this time he was in an arguably much worse position. If before his mind was preventing him from sleeping now his body had joined in, as he quickly found out that sleeping while tied up, even on his own bed, was not easy task, especially when his mind had not exactly calmed down after the ordeal with his mother.

Unbeknownst to him, someone else was enjoying the scene very much, and as you might already suspect, that someone was Tanis. Once again she had made use of her crystal ball, the same she had always used to keep an eye on Lothair, the same object that had once showed her the dreaded sight of Lothair and Jean together and that had alerted her of the prince’s meeting with Jean in the dungeons.

But now Tanis found the sight of the bound prince much more enjoyable than most of what the sphere had shown her before, her mind could only think of what she would do to the prince if she had him like that in front of her. But the sorceress quickly realized that she didn’t needed to fantasize about that, after all, the prince was already within her grasp.

Tanis was not short of ways to get inside the prince’s guarded and locked room, she gave thought to the idea of once again making use of the potion that she had made to assume the queen’s aspect, but she ended up deciding that such thing was more trouble than it was worth, not to mention that it would mean taking unnecessary risks, so she discarded it quickly.

Instead she opened her grimoire of spells and looked for something that she knew would be of use to her. In ancient and foreign tongue she could read something that to our words could be translated as ‘shadow form’, although there’s no real way of translating it. With such magic at her disposal Tanis had no trouble entering Lothair’s room.

Lothair, who was still trying to fall asleep, saw the effects of Tanis’ magic very quickly when a strange shadow began to project itself over his room. It had the vague shape of a human, but the dim light that came through the window distorted it greatly.

Lothair looked at the window and saw that there was nothing there that could project such shadow, fear began to overcome his body as he quickly realized that he was trapped, literally tied up, with something he could not even begin to understand.

He was reluctant to call for the guards; would they even listen to him? He wondered, but when he saw the shadow reach for him with its twisted arms he decided that calling for help was the only thing he could do.

But before any sound could come out of his mouth, before he could even open his mouth, a hand was pressed over his lips, silencing him, and as soon as that happened the shadow assumed a physical form.

The weightless, ethereal and almost shapeless figure of the shadow assumed a physical form, its now vague outline turning into a defined curvaceous feminine figure covered by a dress as black as the shadow. Lothair did not have to wait for his fears to be proven correct because as soon as he raised his gaze his eyes were by Tanis’.

“Hello my prince” Tanis said with a devious smile on her face.

The sorceress was straddling Lothair, her thick thighs pressing his sides and her bottom resting on the prince’s flat abdomen. She kept one hand covering his mouth while she rested her other hand on his chest.

“Mpghghg!” Lothair tried to call for help.

“Be quiet Lothair” Tanis threatened as she pressed the prince’s neck with her free hand “You wouldn’t want to do something that might get you killed and neither would I like to kill you”

Lothair felt his life slowly dim as Tanis kept pressing his neck, preventing air from reaching his lungs and blood from reaching his head. He realized how absolute the power that Tanis had over him was, and against his best judgment and rational mind, he felt how his blood was beginning to flow elsewhere in his body.

“Will you behave my prince?” Tanis asked as she leaned closer to the prince’s face.

With no option other than dying Lothair nodded, and Tanis removed both of her hands from him, freeing his neck and mouth.

Lothair did not remember a time when air had felt so good, he felt the dizziness go away as blood began to flow to his brain once again, although it did not leave the other place where it had gone while Tanis was chocking him.

“If you kill me people will know that you did it” Lothair spoke after regaining his breath “You can’t kill me”

“Oh really?” Tanis said as she laid both of her hands over Lothair’s neck, not chocking him yet, but making sure he felt the pressure “Maybe they would, but most likely they won’t, I have my methods of hiding my tracks”

Impotence and fear filled Lothair’s body as he saw Tanis smirk as she spoke those words and as breathing began to become a harder task again.

“But I don’t think you are willing to take that risk” Tanis continued “It would be a shame if you died for nothing, and for me it would be a shame if you died no matter the circumstances”

“What?” Lothair asked.

“Oh, it might surprise you but I don’t actually want to see you dead…”

As she spoke, Tanis leaned closer to the prince, she extended her hands to grab Lothair by the wrists and as she kept leaning closer her huge breasts began to press against Lothair’s chest, which made his situation even more awkward.

“All I want for you is to be safe, kept far from the dangers of this world while under my protection” Tanis spoke seductively as she began to caress Lothair’s hands “You could stay on bed like you are now while I handle the more difficult parts of governing that you have been trying to run away from for all your life; doesn’t that sound good?”

Tanis was so close to him that Lothair could feel her breath. He could barely follow what she had said as his body seemed to be busy with other things, and those things seemed to be tainting his mind because Lothair began to give thought to what Tanis was saying.

“Of course you’d have to do certain things before that can be accomplished…” Tanis said she began to perform some slight movements with her hips “Getting out of this predicament being the first, but I can solve that with ease…”

Lothair was quick to notice what Tanis was doing with her body, she saw slowly moving her hips forwards and backwards, softly and slowly rubbing her crotch against Lothair’s, arousing him even more that his restrained predicament or the touch of Tanis’ breasts had done.

“What do you want me to do?” Lothair almost moaned because the arousal that barely allowed him to speak.

“Oh I want you to do many things my prince…” Tanis said as she slowly began to increase the intensity of her movements “First and foremost, I want you to tell me where is Jean”

Hearing that name made something snap inside Lothair, he felt like if he woken up from a trance, but saying that the state of near ecstasy that Tanis had inflicted upon him went away would be a lie, because his body was still very much enjoying what the sorceress was doing, unbothered by the mention of Jean.

“What do you want to do her?” He managed to ask.

“Oh that doesn’t concern you” Tanis said as she gave Lothair a deep slow rub “All you need to know is that she would be judged for what she did…”

“Jean didn’t do anything!” Lothair said.

“Oh that doesn’t matter…” Tanis said, bothered by Lothair’s defiance but confident in that her persuasion would work “Now tell me where she is and we can begin to work on that ideal life I talked about…”

“Never!” Lothair said as he struggled against his restraints, trying to get Tanis away from him to no avail.

After she heard that word once again Tanis immediately stopped what she was doing, she became still and removed her hands from Lothair’s going back to sitting perpendicular to him over his abdomen.

“Are you sure?” She asked as she suddenly grabbed his penis and held it tightly “You seemed to be having an awfully good time, do you really want to give that up?”

No matter how arousing Tanis’ touch was Lothair was certain that whatever she could offer to him would only bring ruin to those around him, Jean first and foremost but he did not doubt that eventually his mother, Amelina and maybe the entire kingdom, could eventually find themselves like Jean’s father.

“Go to hell, I won’t do your bidding” Lothair said defiantly.

Tanis, now perfectly serious and with no trace of the lust that a few moments ago seemed to fill all of her body Tanis looked down on the prince, now feeling disgusted by the sight that had once made her lustful.

“I see” Tanis said as she let go of Lothair’s member “Let’s see what you say after the trial”

Tanis smoother off her clothes as she stood beside Lothair’s bed, and before casting her spell once again she spoke some last words to the prince.

“Have fun sleeping like that”

[crow3467]

Thanks for continuing with the story I want to see what is coming next

[CowboyStud]

More?

[Pleasurechip95]

I love this story and can't wait to see what happens next

[harveygasson]

Wow. Wow wow wow! I hadn't spotted this story and just binged the whole thing today, it's incredible! One of the best I've read on this site. Incredible work, great characters, fantastic world building. Really looking forward to the next part!

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo Thanks for commenting enjoy part fourteen!

Also, I hate begging and being annoying with the audience (Whoever they may be) but If I'm publishing the story it is because I'd like to hear what readers have to say about it, so I appreciate comments even if they say nothing more than 'nice chapter'. With that out of the way I'll continue the story.

Chapter 14

Lothair was woken up the next day by someone entering his room, it was a servant and a guard. The first one was there to bring the prince breakfast while the other was there to ensure his safety, but his task soon became redundant when they saw that the prince was tied up.

The shame Lothair felt when the guard untied him was indescribable, at least at the moment, because considering how many times he had experience shame of similar scale and worse brought by the fact that he was tied up in front of people was becoming usual at a pace faster than he would have liked.

As morning passed by Lothair still struggled to believe that he had woken up in a world different from what he had known until then. No longer was he royalty who should be treated with respect, he was now a disgusting being who people took pleasure in hating. And according the beliefs they had been convinced of, they were right in their hatred.

The usual routine of the prince was completely shattered by the sole fact that he could not leave his room, food was brought there and since there was a bathroom attached to it he had no excuse to leave at all.

Although he could have very well remained in his sleeping clothes Lothair decided to bathe and change clothes to try to keep at least a semblance of a routine. But no matter what he did the reality he had been thrown into was one which he could not easily escape.

He thought that by reading fiction, of which he had been kept away due to his studies, he could at least avoid actively thinking about the procedure that was going to take place the next day, but he found out that he couldn’t even read properly since his mind remained stuck in the present and in his room turned prison.

A day without nothing to do would have sounded splendid to Lothair a few days before, but when it arrived in this shape he found it to be agonizing. Boredom mixed with dread in his heart, worried about what was going to happen yet painfully impotent to do anything about it.

This dreadfully monotonous albeit stressful state was only broken when, late into the afternoon someone entered his room without any sort of wonder.

They were the two guards, and although Lothair could make out the figure of someone else standing outside he didn’t manage to see their identity at the moment.

“For the interview to be conducted with your lawyer you must be restrained” One of the guards informed “By request of your mother”

Lothair wondered how much by ‘your mother’ they actually meant ‘Tanis’, but decided not give it much thought. He allowed himself to be manhandled by the guards, deeming it to be better not to resist. And he tried to console himself with the fact that they at least had brought some good news, at least he had a lawyer.

Once Lothair was tightly bound to the chair with his hands bound behind the back of the chair, his legs tied together and rope around his waist pinning him to the back of the chair.

Although he was for some reason expecting to be gagged, once the guards left without doing so it made sense for Lothair, after all, in an interview he should be expected to be able to talk. He felt ashamed of even expecting that and he blamed Tanis for it.

Once the guards had left the other person Lothair had seen standing outside came into the room, and it was something much more familiar to Lothair that he had expected. It was Emelia, Amelina’s daughter who he had met a year ago in his eighteenth birthday party. She had barely changed since then, she was of the same height, or better said, still as short, her hair had remained short and of course the freckles on her face had not gone away.

She seemed worried if not ashamed and actively avoided laying her eyes on the prince on first instance. She closed the door behind her and took seat on another chair which the guards had laid in front of the prince. Then she sighed.

“I was never good with conversation, so I will make this easy for the two of us” She said as she mustered up the courage to look at the prince in the eyes “I will be your lawyer in tomorrow’s trial, so whatever you know you must tell it to me, okay?”

Lothair agreed, he had no intentions of handicapping herself in a procedure he was convinced could only end up with him on top, if it was done honestly at least. But he had a question to ask.

“You don’t believe that I killed Jean’s father right?” He asked “You know it’s a lie”

Emelia looked behind her like if she was expecting to see the guards standing there, only to find out that obviously there was nobody there. And even though she knew that hardly any noise would go through the thick wooden door of the prince’s room she still decided to lean forwards towards the prince before speaking.

“I know you didn’t kill him okay?” She said almost whispering “The hard part will be convincing some people that you didn’t”

Lothair gave a sigh of relief, it seemed like he had come across the only person who believed what he said, because at that point even his mother seemed to be unable to believe what he had to say.

“Like I said, I need you to tell me everything you know about this case” Emelia said as she grabbed a quill and prepared to take notes of all that she heard “Start by the point you deem more appropriate, but if it helps you organize your thoughts, you can start by telling me what you were doing the day when the poisoning took place”

Lothair spared no detail on his account of the events, he thanked all of the time he had spent studying because apparently it had helped him train an almost eidetic memory and allowed him to give a detail account of all that he had lived through.

But his ability to proficiently retell his story to Emelia began to slowly wane as he got to those events closer to the present, and by the point when he started to retell his talk with Jean he had to make a pause. It was like if by giving such a faithful account of the events, the emotions he had experienced during those moments were coming back to him, and needless to say fear was chief among them.

“You don’t need to tell me all of what you spoke with her” Emalia spoke “Only if it’s of relevance to your trial”

“It is…” Lothair replied “But I’m afraid of telling you”

Emelia felt a cold drop of sweat fall down her spine, like if she was expecting Lothair to tell her something that she should not know, but that intrigued it more than it scared her.

“Everything that you tell me will be kept secret” Emelia said as she leaned forward to listen closely to Lothair.

“I think Tanis is the one who murdered Hartgard” Lothair spoke lowly “I don’t have evidence, but I have based suspicions”

Again Emelia felt a chill run down her spine, now she was certain that what Lothair had told her something she should not know, after all, she had just heard an accusation directed to one of the most important people in the kingdom aside from him and his mother.

“Why do you think?” Emelia asked with a slight tremble on her voice.

The young woman heard patiently the words Lothair spoke with difficulty and she watched him look around whenever he made a pause as if he feared Tanis herself would be there in the room with them, and Although Emelia thought that to be impossible, the fear in the prince’s eyes was contagious and it made her fearful too.

But what she feared the most was not the prince’s strange behavior, she feared how much sense what he said made. Even though she liked the prince and would rather see him free than in jail at that moment she wouldn’t have mind hearing the ramblings of liar instead of a story of which she couldn’t think much against.

“I think I found proof of the potion in her room, but that was when she found me and then… well” Lothair ended his story and made a pause, feeling it would be redundant to explain what happened then and feeling it necessary to stay quiet about what happened last night “Do you believe me?”

Emelia looked at her notes, she was trying to think of a way to save the prince from prison without making mention of what he had accused Tanis of, but she couldn’t come up with such a story. Acting in favor of the prince meant acting against Tanis.

“I will have to investigate…” Emelia replied “But your story makes sense”

Lothair was somewhat relieved when he heard Emelia’s response, until then it was the first person who had believed in him.

After the interview ended the story Emelia heard from Lothair lingered on her mind like poison, she wanted to find a way to prove it and save the prince from his punishment, but she also feared going against Tanis even more than she feared the trial itself.

Deciding to defend the accused prince had already been hard on the usually shy and awkward Emelia, who could barely stand the scolding from her parents once they received the news, but at the time she felt like she was determined to help the prince.

Of course her interest in defending him was not entirely selfless, even though Emelia wanted to see the prince freed from the accusations that had fallen on him she wouldn’t have minded receiving some sort of reward from the prince himself, who would be crowned king if he was found innocent.

And with Jean out of the equation that favor seemed more promising. Because even though Emelia always thought the prince to be out of her reach, the presence of Jean by his side only made that seemingly obvious fact hurt, because it reminded her that while the prince was out of her reach, it was very well within the grasp of others.

But while those sensations still remained in Emelia after her interview with the prince, the fear that had overrun her body after hearing his story now made the more coward part of her wish that she had never taken up the task of defending him.

Of course she still had time to give up on the task, but the image of the prince being hopeful about what she could do for him came to her mind whenever she even considered giving up. She could not give up, not even if it meant going against the fear that was plaguing her mind.

The first thing she did when she gathered the courage to move forward with her plan was asking the castle guard for a permit to investigate Tanis’ tower room. Upon first hearing this the guards laughed at her, nearly making her give up, but when she insisted they began to take her more seriously, or at least began to entertain her.

But even while doing so the guard were quick at cutting her hopes short. Apparently Tanis’ lead the investigations inside the castle, and to investigate her room someone else would have to be brought in.

Emelia was quick to suggest her mother for the task, even though she had good suspicion that she would not accept the task, but the guards told her that having a familial relation with her would make her an unsuitable candidate nonetheless.

And all of the other options for people who were up to the task were people who were miles away from the city. Wizards and mages who would have to be dragged out of their studies to make them comply with the request and who would take weeks before arriving to the castle, thereby giving ample time for Tanis to hide any evidence she might be hiding.

Again Emelia wished she could give up but again she refused.

She thought of other legitimate options, questioning Tanis was the one that made the most sense since she had already talked with the queen, who hadn’t been very helpful and Jean was nowhere to be found. But the mere thought of having that sorceress in front of her, looking down on her with those purple eyes and that wicked smirk on her face already terrified her.

But against her fears she went, as she decided that this was not the time to behave cowardly. She walked with all the confidence she could either muster or fake towards the isolated tower that served as Tanis’ place within the castle, she stood right on front of her door and knocked.

She did so once, twice, thrice, and when it became clear that she was getting no results she resorted to trying to speak, asking for Tanis to come out, saying that she just had a few questions. But upon receiving no response Emelia began to consider slightly less legitimate methods.

Emelia peeked stealthy through the keyhole of the door and in the dimly illuminated room on the other side Tanis was nowhere to be seen. She once again made sure that nobody was around to see her, and then she opened the door.

Of course it was locked, but that wasn’t something that could easily stop Emelia, because much like her parents she had been trained in magic and was well aware of how to use to open simple locks.

With the door opened and nerves racking her body Emelia stepped inside the room, bumping into furniture and trying with extreme carefulness not to topple any of the many piles of strange objects that sat around the room.

A hiss from the winged serpent made Emelia yelp and nearly fall to the ground, it was a scary specimen and when hissing inadvertently from the darkness could easily be a terrifying sight.

To make navigating the room easier Emelia made a small light on the tip of her finger and began to look around in hopes of finding anything that could be evidence of the story Lothair had told her. She inspected all of the vials of poison, but she could not recognize the language in which the labels were written, which matched Lothair’s story about ancient catarran being used for their labels.

But true fear did not fill Emelia’s body until she saw a potion which matched exactly what Lothair had described, blackened blood and nearly dissolved hair, a seemingly dense liquid with bubbles covering its top and small hints of a deeper red at the bottom.

Emelia was considering running away with it to conduct an analysis, even though it would mean stealing the prospect of what she could find out about the potion was enough of a motive to run away with it, after all she could always destroy in case someone became suspicious. But before she could reach any conclusion she heard something that sent chills down her spine.

Some was opening the door, and there was only one person who dared enter this room.

With a speed Emelia did not know she possessed she casted a spell on herself and made herself invisible. A complex illusion that had taken her too long to learn for how little protection it offered her.

Even though she could not be seen, not even by Tanis, Emelia was well aware of the limits of her illusion. She could still be heard, smelled and felt if someone were to get close enough or pay enough attention, and if she performed any sudden movement the illusion would break and she would immediately be spotted.

So far from calming her, all her spell did was to make her even more nervous, as she now had to stay perfectly quiet and still as Tanis paced in front of her and walked over to her desk to sit down.

She heard Tanis sigh and saw her slouch on her chair, resting her head on her hands. She seemed bothered by something and Emelia would rather not think of what could bother such woman.

Then Tanis looked at her wardrobe of potions, which meant that she was essentially looking through Emelia, and something seemed to bother her. It was then when Emelia realized that she had made a mess of he potions, and apparently Tanis had been quick to notice it.

As the sorceress eyes pierced her Emelia was beginning to fear that Tanis would hear her heartbeat, but like if that wasn’t bad enough she saw Tanis rise from her chain and began to walk towards her potions, thereby walking towards her.

Fighting between the urge of running away and the requirement of the spell to stay calm, Amelia slowly slid away from Tanis’ way in the quietest way she could, although at that point her heart and breath were probably louder than the sound the soles of her boots made as she slid across the floor.

Emelia had to contain her urge to sigh as she found herself out of the way of the sorceress, still unnoticed by her. She watched as she rearranged her potions as she tried her best to calm down her breath to not be heard.

Tanis looked around and didn’t see anything, but that didn’t calm down Emelia, far from it, she was now worrying about how long she could stay there like this, perfectly quiet and silent and hoping that she would not give away her presence in any other way. The few minutes she had already spent like that had been a nightmare and even thinking about this situation going on was enough to make her feel like death would be better.
That was when she noticed, the winged serpent, it was looking at her.

Somehow Emelia knew that the animal didn’t had its look on what laid behind her, the way its slit pupils pierced the air in front of it made her certain that the animal did not have any interest on whatever could be behind her, but that it its gaze stuck on her, regardless of her visibility.

“Something bothering you?” Tanis spoke as she walked towards the hanging cage.

The serpent hissed and Emelia knew it was hissing at her.

“Do your eyes see something mine don’t?” Tanis asked as she followed the serpent’s gaze “Maybe I should let you stretch your wings and catch it”
Tanis said with grin on her face.

“It’s been long since I’ve let you use your poison on your prey and not mine, so perhaps I should let you hunt as a reward for all the help you’ve given me” Tanis said as she began to work on opening the cage’s lock.

Emelia broke before the instant the cage’s door was opened, she fell to her knees and raised her hands above her head.

“Don’t do it! Please don’t do it!” She pleaded as she faced down and shut her eyes.

“Oh my, if isn’t the prince’s savior” Tanis spoke as she locked the cage again and looked down on the girl “Mind telling me what you are doing here=”

“I was just investigating something before the trial, that’s all!” Emelia replied.

“A lawyer like you should be aware that doing such thing without a permit and a supervisor constitutes a crime” Tanis said as she paced around Emelia “Perhaps you should be put on trial too…”

“Please don’t…” Emelia begged, she knew that if that were to happen she would have no hopes of winning.

“I may comply with your pleads if you do something for me” Tanis said as she stood in front of Emelia and leaned forward to look at her fear stricken face.

“What do you want?” Emelia asked as she fearfully looked up at Tanis.

Without warning Tanis violently grabbed Emelia by the chin and pulled her face towards her own.

“Leave this place and never come back, whatever you saw forget it, and if you even think of bringing it up…” Tanis extended her hand and with a spell opened the cage of the winged serpent.

Emelia tried her best not to look down as she felt the soft scales of the reptile crawl up her body, her gaze being instead met with Tanis’ purple eyes.

“Prepare for the consequences” Tanis said as the serpent laid right on Emelia’s shoulder, showing its fangs and ready to strike her neck.

Emelia was on the verge of tears, feeling like she was about to die but not feeling nearly prepared for it, but right before the serpent could strike Tanis snatched it by the jaw and tossed it back on its cage.

“Go away now! Leave!” Tanis shouted, sending Emelia running away from her room thankful about being able to leave with her life.

[CowboyStud]

Hi this is the episode as before?

[crow3467]

Great chapter! I like how you take your time to build tension I was really hoping she could help the prince

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo @Pleasurechip95 @harveygasson Thanks for commenting enjoy part fifteen!

Chapter 15

The next day came in quicker than Lothair expected, he was waken up by guards who after giving him a rather meager dinner for his princely standards manacled his hands behind his back and escorted him out of his room.

He would be trialed in the castle’s court room, a massive room which stood empty most of the time as few trials were deserving of being hosted there. During his lie Lothair had only seen the room being used two times, and of those he could only remember one.

The first one was the trial of traitorous noble who betrayed the kingdom during the war, the trial began the very same year Lothair was born so he only saw its end three years after it had begun, not that he remembered it.

The second one was the trial of a rich merchant, accused of conspiring to overthrow the monarchy and install another government. This trial Lothair remembered very well as when it happened he was already twelve years old and was thereby mandated to assist the procedure alongside his mother. What at first seemed like a boring obligation eventually turned into a personal intrigue for Lothair, who was soon attentively listening to the arguments of both accusers and accused ones.

And when the guards dragged him inside the room Lothair could not help but be reminded of that merchant, of whom he was never convinced of his guilt and now, and now that the prince was being put in trial for a crime he didn’t commit, he began to wonder if, much like him, that man had been innocent the whole time.

The crown who was filling the many seats of the court room turned its loud chatter into murmurs that much more subtly filled the air. Lothair tried his best not to look at them, he was too fearful of seeing a known face, which was more than likely.

After an agonizingly long walk along the carpeted hallway that split the may rows of seats in two Lothair was brought to a podium. In front of it was a dime with a high throne for the monarch where his mother was sitting, and three lower chairs in front where the three judges sat. The three of them of geriatric age, one slightly fat bald man in the middle, a lanky bald man at his right and a ghostly looking hag at his left. Those were the three people who would ultimately determine his fate that day.

In the middle of the podium the guards raised a wooden post, Lothair knew what it was for since he had already seen one trial before. The guards briefly cuffed his hands only to manacle them once again, tying them to the post behind him. And after doing the same with his feet they left the podium, leaving the prince alone.

Lothair shyly looked around him, thankful about facing away from the crowd who he had no doubts had their eyes fixed on him. At his left sat his many accusers, the Beaumont family and their lawyers, all looking at him eagerly wanting to see him thrown to jail.

At his right sat his only defendant, an Emelia who was trying her best to hide her fear and nerves, but whose façade was showing many cracks that were hard not to notice.

To spare you the legal details of a procedure which began early in the morning and ended as the summer sun began to dim its light on the horizon, I’ll make it brief. At first the prince wanted to hope for Emelia to save him, even though fear overwhelmed his body he wanted to think she was capable of saving him, but there was one exact and easy to point moment in the trial that crushed his hopes.

After Emelia had argued for an awfully long time in favor of the prince’s innocence one of the lawyer from the Beaumont family spoke out and asked a simple yet fear inducing question.

“Well, if the prince did not kill Hartgard, who did?” Were his words.

Emelia was stricken with terror as the judges declared that it was her turn to answer, his face nearly sank on her book of notes as she tried to find an answer that was nowhere to be see. She raised his look as if the response she wanted was going to come down from the heavens, but what she saw could not have anything to do with heaven.

In one of the boxes meant for privileged guests she spotted Tanis, and even though she was far away from Emelia she could swear she was smiling at her. The vivid memory of being stuck inside her hellish room with her serpentine familiar was enough to make Emelia sink in silence.

Once the judges determined that Emelia had ran out of time to respond it was all downhill for Lothair, who could clearly see that there was something bothering Emelia and yet could not help her.

At the end of the trial Lothair was deemed to be guilty by the three judges, who sentenced Lothair to the appropriate punishment for a murderer like him. Life in blacktomb prison.

[harveygasson]

Well a foregone conclusion but maybe there's hope for the princeling

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo @Pleasurechip95 @harveygasson Thanks for commenting enjoy part sixteen!

Chapter 16

An entire week passed by after the prince’s trial and Eliza found out that returning to her duties was a grueling task. Before she had been getting ready to have her son finally crowned king and then she would have been able to retire in some distant corner of the kingdom, in a summerhouse where she could have sat the rest of her days unbothered. But that wasn’t the case.

Instead of relaxing by the sea and basking in the sun Eliza was burdened with a new task, finding a new heir.

Having another child was out of the question, even if she re-married, which she knew some wouldn’t have been fond of, she doubted that her body could handle another pregnancy, not to mention that having another child would imply governing for them for another eighteen years, which she was not keen to do.

So the heir had to come from elsewhere, and at least Eliza wasn’t short of candidates. The news about the prince’s conviction traveled fast and soon members of the Goufraid family from all over the continent began to propose themselves to fill the vacant throne and relieve the queen of her duties.

Eliza could have easily chosen the first candidate that offered himself, but she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t allow herself to. Truth is that, as tired as she was of being a queen, she still had compromise with the kingdom, and she couldn’t forfeit her legacy as a queen to whoever happened to be the nearest member of the royal family available.

So instead Eliza began to request meetings with everyone who had offered themselves to the task, which already trimmed down the number a great deal since a lot of those who did ended up not being really interested in defending their case.

As message was delivered to the different places where the would be heirs where Eliza found herself with some free time, but in those circumstances any free time would have been more than what she had the previous days.

Only then, in these evenings she spent in her room watching the leaves turn brown outside the castle, did she began to think about her son again. It had been scary how quick she had forgotten him, like if he had never been there, but on the other side she had been constantly reminded of it by her routine, after all she wouldn’t have been looking for an heir had her son not been sent to jail.

The queen tried to picture blacktomb prison inside her head, that dark fortress was where all the traitors from the war were held, people she would have never wanted her son to even see, yet now he was trapped inside with all of them.

That was why Eliza had stealthily requested some preferential treatment for her son, although preferential might be a debatable term as the conditions she requested for her son where still less than ideal.

When Eliza voiced in private her fears of her son being abused in prison by the other inmates, the solution Tanis, her confidant, proposed was to lock away his son while the other prisoners were out. Which of course ended up protecting him from them, but also made his imprisonment even more isolating.

When two weeks had passed by the thought kept lingering on her head, and on a Monday night the queen decided that she needed to do something about it.

The next day she went to Tanis’ room, she entered after briefly announcing her presence with a knock on the door and inside was met by Tanis sitting on her desk and then putting away a book to address the queen.

“Good morning your majesty” Tanis spoke putting up her favorite act of the queen’s faithful servant “Might I be of service”

The queen replied affirmatively and was invited by Tanis to sit in front of her, afterwards she was offered tea by the sorceress which she accepted and began to make her request as the drink cooled down.

“I was wondering if you could take me to Blacktomb” Eliza spoke rather shyly for her usual character “I would like to see my son, but I’d also like my visit to be more private, I was wondering if you could help me with that”

Tanis was undeniably surprised, after the trial she had never expected the queen to have saved any feelings towards her son, but apparently she had underestimated her motherly instincts. There was a latent worry within the sorceress about the queen finding out what she had done with Lothair, but it was only a small itch that she knew best not to fear.

“Oh, do you want me to use magic to take you there?” Tanis asked even though she had understood the queen’s request very well.

“Indeed”

Tanis would have happily denied the queen’s request, after all having the queen see her son was only a chance, even if a slight one, for the truth to be revealed, and the queen was the last person Tanis wanted to know the truth about what had happened. But Tanis knew that denying the queen’s request would have raised far more suspicions that whatever Lothair could say, so she complied.

“As you desire my queen” Tanis said as she stood up and began looking for the components of her spell “Come see me at midnight, that way no prying eyes would see you come”

When midnight arrived Eliza did as Tanis requested and after dressing as modestly as her wardrobe allowed her, which meant a blue uniform consisting of a jerkin, pants and high leather boots meant for hunting trips, and then walking inside Tanis’ room, where the sorceress was already waiting for her.

Inside the room the usual hoard of exotic items was moved away towards the walls and the carpets had been rolled over, revealing the old wooden floor where Tanis had drawn a circle filled with complex runes with chalk.

“This will take us to the nearest circle to blacktomb, I believe you still remember it”

“I do” Eliza limited herself to respond.

The last time Eliza had seen the other end of this teleportation circle had been years ago when she had condemned a traitorous noble to spend the rest of his days in blacktomb, and the place hadn’t changed much since them.

The old circle had been constructed by druids of old and the ancient stone structure that once surrounded it wasn’t any more or less dilapidated and overgrown when Eliza and Tanis returned to it than the last time they’ve seen it.

From there a nearly forgotten trail which was barely seen amidst the plants that covered it lead the way towards blacktomb prison.

Built near the mouth of Brehil river atop an eroded rock formation the stone structure stood imposing as it loomed over the two guests. It projected a stretched shadow of jagged edges as the moonlight illuminated and across its light many spots of light revealed the positions of the tight barred windows which served as the only way for the prisoners to see outside.

When the two women arrived at the guard post they were stopped by guards who allowed them to enter as soon as they saw who those women were, never expecting to see the woman who had her face in a good part of the kingdom’s coins visit them at midnight in that dark place.

The curious eyes of the guards befell on the two women as they walked through the dark and cold stone hallways of the prison, with them appearing as ghosts in their cloaks when they emerged out of the darkness and into the torchlight.

Eliza’s credentials were more than enough for them to be allowed inside every place until they reached the prince’s designated wing.
“I’d like you to wait for me here” Eliza said as the guards opened the door towards her son.

“Are you sure? He might be dangerous” Tanis replied, not seeing the queen’s idea with good eyes at all.

“Don’t worry, protocol requires him to be tied up when he receives visits so he won’t be a danger to your majesty” One of the guards dared to intervene.

Tanis cursed that man in her insides, the only non-suspicious excuse she had for barging in with the queen and her son to keep the situation under her control had been seemingly taken away from here by someone who she deemed as slightly more than an animal.

“You can wait for me here; I won’t take too much time with him” Eliza said as she prepared to enter the cell.

Eliza removed her hood and walked through the corridor that lead to yet another door, it seemed like they had taken special precautions with the prince, which Eliza considered a bit exaggerated since there was no way in which her son could get through the first door in the first place.

The next door was opened by a guard who invited the queen to enter before closing the door behind her. The room that the queen saw on the other side was a rather small cylindrical space that went up for a good distance, it was the insides of a thin tower.

The only light came through the windows, which were rather big for a prison, which might have seem concerning had it not been for the fact that they were high on the walls, well out of reach of any prisoner who would have wanted to escape through them, only to then be met by the sight of a long fall towards the jagged ends of the rocks atop which the prison was built.

And illuminated by the moon was his son. He was sitting down on a chair in the middle of the room, shyly looking down as he seemed unable to bare the sight of his mother.

His physique was slightly scrawnier, but as a prisoner of not only noble birth but also from the royal family he clearly was not eating as bad as many of the others. His hair had grown slightly longer, now reaching well down to the height of her shoulders. His only clothes were a loose ragged shirt of brown color and a pair of equally brown, ragged and loose pants. He was barefoot and one of his shoulders was nearly exposed, but he didn’t seem to bothered by the cold yet.

His arms were draped over the back of the chair and although Eliza could not see them she correctly assumed that they were manacled together. The same could be said for his ankles, manacled and hobbled together, and then chained to the same point below the chair where her hands were chained to.

The queen stood in silence before the prince for a few minutes, no matter what he had done it was still a depressing sight and she had to take a good hold of her motherly instincts to not break down and lunge to hug her son and begin to tell him that somehow everything was going to be alright.

But even when nobody was looking Eliza still felt like she owed the kingdom the duty of at least playing the part of a neutral observer who would not use her power to intervene with the law, not even if it was about her son.

“Why are you here?” Lothair asked lowly.

“There are a few things I’d like to ask you” Eliza replied “After all, the trial happened so quickly that I feel like I lost the opportunity to ask you many things”

“So now you care about that…” Lothair sighed “Maybe you should have done something before.

Apparently as Lothair had already lost everything he had lost at least part of his fear of his mother, which allowed him to be slightly less respectful when talking to her, especially when compared to how he addressed her before he was sent to jail.

“Don’t speak to me in that way Lothair!” Eliza said sternly “I did not come here because I believe in your innocence or anything like that”

“Then why did you come here?”

“I already told you, there are things I want you to answer me” Eliza repeated herself “Will you answer them?”

Being interrogated by his own mother was slightly less bad than the other social interactions he got during the day, which were none aside from the brief orders he received from the guards, so Lothair complied.

Even though it felt good for Lothair to finally have his mother listen to what he had to say he didn’t found any hope in voicing his story. He had good reasons to feel like everything was already lost, and his mother had given him reasons to believe that he had no hope getting out.

The former prince expected his mother to leave after he was done, he didn’t trust that she was believing a single word that he was speaking, so he was surprised when after he was done telling his story his mother stood silently in front of him for a few seconds instead of immediately leaving.

“You accuse Tanis of doing it then?” Eliza asked.

“Yes…” Lothair replied, surprised by the fact that his mother had not only stayed but also asked him something.

Eliza stood silently for a few more seconds. Even though she still believed, or wanted to believe, that her son was guilty and that therefore she had done the right thing when she decided to have the trial conducted rapidly and not show any favoritism for her, the fear of having her son imprisoned for something he didn’t do began to fester on her insides, if that was the case she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself.

“I see…” Eliza spoke lowly.

Even though she was giving the story far more thought than she was showing she left the cell without any further words being spoken, leaving Lothair feeling like she hadn’t believed in him, but still surprised by the fact that she had asked him that question.

Lothair didn’t knew it but his mother was asking herself many questions that she hadn’t even thought about asking before. Only then did she began to think about the apparent fixation Tanis had with her son, and under the light of the accusation Lothair had made she began to see the already mysterious sorceress with even more suspicion.

“How did everything go?” Tanis asked after the queen had left the cell.

“A complete waste of time” Eliza replied as she put her cloak back on “Let’s leave this place, I shouldn’t have come here”

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo @Pleasurechip95 @harveygasson Thanks for commenting enjoy part seventeen!

Chapter 17

Despite of what the queen’s words may have led many to believe, Tanis could see through them and tell that she thought of her visit to her son as far more than a ‘waste of time’.

Much like the queen had become suspicious of Tanis after her brief time with her son, Tanis had begun to see the queen with different eyes too. Until then she’d had the advantage of her doings only being suspected of by nobodies, aside from the prince with whom she had already dealt with, but if the queen became suspicious of her and found out what she had done everything she had worked for would have come tumbling down like a house of cards.

But Tanis knew better than to deal with the queen in an obvious way, she was the queen after all, she couldn’t falsely accuse her of something like she had done with her son and the still escaped Jean nor could she scare her into submission like she had done with Emelia. She had to be more thorough about dealing with her and that began by pretending that nothing had changed.

So even though both women became suspicious of each other, neither of them showed it, or better said, both did their best to hide it.
While under the excuse of being tired or sick the queen avoided her usual meetings with Tanis, the sorceress began to spy on the queen in secret with her crystal sphere and charmed animals, all while she devised a way of getting her plan back in track.

The revelation of what to do came to her when she was disposing of the evidence that had nearly destroyed her plans. While she was about to shatter the vial which once contained the potion that allowed her to assume the aspect of the queen she was reminded of how importance that was, something she had lost sight of in the midst of the latest events.

She wanted to have her plan back on track as soon as possible, so as soon as nearly all souls in the castle were asleep she locked the door of her tower and began to redraw the circle of teleportation that had taken her and the queen to blacktomb a few days ago.

Again she was transported to the ancient druidic ruins in an instant, and before walking towards the prison she stayed there for a few minutes.

She contemplated the ruins with contempt, unlike all of the people in the kingdom, she knew with certainty who had made that structure, and she didn’t think highly of them.

The druids that once lived in what now is the kingdom of Drael had worked thoroughly to protect the land from the evil that seeks to destroy and corrupt it, they had carved runes in the mountains and trees, they had blessed the waters of streams and lakes, and when their time was near its end, when humanity turned its back on nature and began to look for answers within themselves, they conjured their greatest protector to watch over the kingdom.

Needless to say, said protector, the dryad Alcinne, had not taken kindly the entrance of Tanis in the kingdom, and had her eyes on the sorceress as soon as she crossed the Karel river in the south.

Tanis though of the protector as she saw a carving of her on one of the ruins’ stone bricks, much like the rest of the ruins, it was almost completely covered in vines and moss, but enough stone could be seen for the figure of the protector to be seen.

With disdain, Tanis conjured a splash of acid which she hurled at the stone carving, the dark purple liquid hissed as it burned the stone surface and the plants covering it. And the sorceress smiled once she saw that the carving had been destroyed.

“Maybe I should pay her another visit once all of this is over” Tanis mused “Once I can finally destroy her”

Leaving a still smoking stone behind Tanis walked to the prison, which again appeared imposing before her once she walked into the main road leading to it.

Although Tanis certainly had enough credentials to get through the prison without being stopped, the fact that she had been seen not so long ago by the queen’s side helped a lot in having the guards not ask may questions.

“I want an audience with the prince” Tanis demanded when she walked in front of the door leading to Lothair’s cell.

“He’s no longer prince you know?” A guard replied as he began to look for the key.

‘Oh he will be again’ Tanis thought as she heard the guard.

With not much further questioning Tanis was allowed inside the cell, where the prince had already been prepared for her like protocol required it.

Lothair once again was tied to the chair in the middle of the cell, her arms draped behind his back and manacled together, her ankles too, and both chained to an d ring below the chair.

When Lothair saw Tanis emerge out of the darkness and remove her hood to show herself he began to tremble. ‘Why is she here?’ he relentlessly asked himself as he failed to find an answer which lacked any terrifying implications.

“What is this? What are you doing here?” Lothair asked as he tried to move away to no avail.

“I have many reasons” Tanis said as she began to circle around the prince.

The sorceress bit her lower lip as she eyed the prince from all angles, even in his plaintive state Tanis still find the prince as someone worth lusting over, perhaps his helpless state only made that sensation stronger for Tanis.

“This brings back memories doesn’t it” She said as she ran a finger over Lothair’s shoulders, making him squirm away.

Lothair’s struggles were to no avail as the chains had very little slack on them, if Tanis wanted to put her hands on him he had no choice but to allow her and limit whatever defiance he could muster to the very little movement the chains allowed him.

After a slow walk around the prince Tanis stood in front of him again and after eying him for a few more seconds she spoke.

“First I want to know what you spoke of with your mother” She asked.

“Why? Are you afraid of her finding out the truth?” Lothair asked teasingly, again his fear slightly less than before due to him having already lost everything.

But with a sharp slap across the face Tanis showed the once prince that he still had plenty to fear of her, and once he had recovered from the blow she repeated her question.

“I hope that struck that bravado out of you” Tanis said “Now be a good boy and tell me, what did you speak of with your mother”

“She just wanted to know my side of the story…” Lothair replied.

“Is that all?” Tanis asked as she took a step forward.

“It is! I swear!” Lothair was quick to plead.

Tanis smirked, she was happy to see how quick she had managed crush Lothair’s pathetic defiance.

“Good to see that you are back to your usual submissive self” Tanis said as she laid a hand on Lothair’s shoulder “I like you better this way”

Tanis moved forward and sat on Lothair’s lap, as much as he tried to squirm away it was to no avail and soon Tanis grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look at her.

“Let’s get to my other question then…” Tanis said as she began to slowly slide one hand down Lothair’s abdomen.

“What do you want?” Lothair said as he tried to free his face from Tanis’ hand.

“All I want you to do is tell the truth” Tanis replied “Do so and this torment may finally end”

“What do you mean telling the truth!?” Lothair asked as he struggled “I’ve said nothing but the truth”

“Oh Lothair that is not the truth I’m talking about…” Tanis said as her hand began to get dangerously close to Lothair’s crotch “I know what Jean told you, all you have to do is say it…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Lothair said as he began to tremble under Tanis’ touch.

“Who gave the wine to Jean Lothair?” Tanis asked sternly as she gripped Lothair’s face with force “I know you remember what Jean told you”

“You did!”

Again Tanis slapped Lothair, letting go of his face only to smack his still red cheek, not with enough force to harm him but with more than enough strength to make it sting.

“It was your mother Lothair, don’t you remember?” Tanis asked rhetorically.

“My mother didn’t kill Jean’s father”

“People don’t need to know that” Tanis said as she began to slide her fingers under Lothair’s pants “And if you just say that your mother did it, this unjust torment that has befallen you might finally be over…”

Only when Tanis’ fingers touched him did Lothair realized that yet again he found himself rock hard down there, it was like his body could not consider what happened to him, or worse, that the situation was only making him more aroused.

“Come on Lothair, both of us know that you don’t want to be here” Tanis said as she began to wrap her fingers around Lothair’s member “Just do what I say and everything will go back to normal”

Tanis began to slowly move her hand up and down Lothair’s cock while she silently awaited his response, but instead of words all that came out of his lips were subtle moans. But that didn’t bother Tanis, the prince’s noises were but music to her ears.

“Why are you doing this?” Lothair managed to ask between moans.

“You don’t have to know Lothair” Tanis said as she stroked the former prince’s hair “All you need to know is that if you do what I want you to do, everything will be better”

“What about my mother?” Again Lothair managed to ask through his slowed breath “Why do you want me to blame her?”

“You don’t need to worry about her” Tanis replied “The only thing that should concern you is yourself”

While Tanis kept softly caressing Lothair’s hair with one hand she kept the movement going with the other, she knew that Lothair was enjoying it, it was written all over his face, but she also knew that at this pace he would never get the relief he was craving so much.

“Come on Lothair, do what I want and this can all be over” Tanis said as she gave a deep rub to Lothair’s penis that pleasured him so much that his back arched as much as the chains allowed.

Lothair could not remember the last time he had an orgasm, since he was thrown into jail he had never managed to get even close, yet now he felt like he was closer to a pleasure even greater than what he remembered, yet thinly kept from it by Tanis who apparently wouldn’t give him any release until he submitted.

Only when Lothair managed to slightly open his eyes which he had closed as he was drowned with pleasure did he realize what was happening. He was falling right into Tanis’ trap.

“No! Get away from me!” Lothair said as he tried to shake off Tanis from him.

“Are you sure?” Tanis said as she again gave a deep rub to Lothair’s cock.

“I won’t betray my mother; I won’t do your bidding!”

Tanis’ face showed a grimace of anger, she was far more bothered by the prince’s resistance that she expected or wanted to admit. She immediately stopped all that she was doing and stood up, leaving Lothair hanging on the edge of what he felt would be ecstasy.

“I will break you eventually” Tanis said as she grabbed her cloak and prepared to leave the room “But next time I may not be so gentle”

Lothair was left alone, chained and with a raging boner that turned into a deep pain in his testicles as it faded away. Apparently Tanis had ordered something to the guards, because that night he remained chained in that chair throughout the whole night.

[harveygasson]

Oh what a cruel tease she is to the poor princeling

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo @Pleasurechip95 @harveygasson Thanks for commenting enjoy part eighteen!

Chapter 18

After managing to leave the city of Lionstrand Jean had hidden in the shadows for a whole month. She made stops in sordid taverns were she ate with the alms she managed to get off the people who pitied a pretty girl like her hanging on such places.

Without a horse Jean had to walk her way along the road, where she hid her face with her cloak every time somebody passed by her, while she silently prayed not to be recognized as she held her sword.

Whenever she slept outside, which occurred far more often than she would have liked, she was often waken out by vivid nightmares, dreams that showed her Tanis and her demon stalking her while Lothair was tortured.

Jean had never felt so miserable in her life, she had lost everything, from her family who now deemed her as a murderer, the man she loved who was now in jail for a crime he did not commit, and she was now fugitive of her own kingdom.

But eventually she managed to get by and arrived at her destination, after a whole month and a single day of traveling in the most miserable conditions Jean saw the place she had been looking for appear over a hill. A while manor with a roof of orange tiles appeared in her sight, and over the gate she could see the crest of the family she was looking for.

The sky was becoming gray and flashes of lightning in the horizon gave clear signs of a coming storm, one much worse than the thin rains Jean had walked under as she traveled while autumn approached. But she couldn’t simply walk up to the door and request entry, she feared that the guards there would recognize her and turn all of her travel into something futile.

Jean had already device many other ways to get in when she saw that they wouldn’t be necessary, for the person she was looking for was already outside.

Looking down and idly sitting on a swing which hung from a large oak tree was Emelia. Jean had heard how she had defended Lothair during the trial and how after her defeat she had retired to her parent’s manor, apparently deeply saddened by what had happened. Even though Jean never had much treatment with the girl she was the only person she could think of to ask for help, after all that had happened, she didn’t have anything left.

Stealthily Jean approached Emelia, who was quite spooked when she heard her name being spoken from behind her. Dropping the book she was holding and nearly falling from the swing.

“Shh, its me, Jean”

“Jean? What are you doing here?” Emelia asked with surprise as she looked at the woman who she took some time to distinguish as Jean “You look awful, what happened?”

“A lot” Jean sighed, happy to see that Emelia didn’t have a hostile reaction “I can tell you but, could we please go inside? I been traveling for days”

Emelia looked at the manor, there was no way the guards would know that this woman was Jean but she still feared that she might not be considering something, so she needed to think of a way to get inside without alarming them.

“Okay then...” Emelia spoke “Pretend you are a passerby from Beroux, you can fake an accent can’t you?”

With her family hailing from there, Jean could not only fake the accent but also speak the language, so she had no trouble playing up the character Emelia had thought for her. According to what the guards were told, Jean was actually Ingela, a woman from Beroux who was going to visit her family on Athor, and who Emelia had been kind enough to offer accommodation when she saw that she was about to be caught by the storm.

With the guards having swallowed up the story with no questions, Jean and Emelia walked into the manor, where they sat on the main hall where a fire was already going in the fireplace.

Jean slouched in the couch and sighed, after a month of sleeping in nothing but the floor and hay bales she felt like she could immediately fall asleep right there, but as much as she would’ve liked to she had things to do first.

“I have talked with Lothair, so I know you are not the killer people think you are” Emelia spoke “I assume that’s why you came to me”

“Correct” Jean replied “After all that happened you are the only one who can help me”

Emelia looked at Jean, she was so far from the image she remembered of her, dirty and tired, she couldn’t help but pity her.

“I’m sorry but I don’t know if I can do much for you…” Emelia spoke regretfully “I couldn’t even help Lothair after all”

“You don’t have to help me” jean said as she grabbed Emelia’s hands “But we must help Lothair so the truth about what happened comes out”

“But how?” Emelia asked “Everyone already thinks he is a murderer…”

Jean fell silent, she couldn’t actually reply to Emelia in a way which was satisfying. After all, she was incapable of even thinking about a way to get Lothair out of prison, let alone expose Tanis’ crimes.

“If you want me to help you I can get you to cross the border…” Emelia said “I can give you some money and you will be able to start over in another country…”

Jean sighed, after all that she had endure she refused to believe that she all she had done was going to end like this, inconclusive, unsatisfactory and disappointing.

“Wait is that sword yours!?” Emelia said as she took notice of the sword Jean had laid on the table in front of her.

Until then she hadn’t paid much attention to it, but when Emelia looked away from Jean and towards the table in front of them she saw the sword’s handle and guard, which were the only parts of the sword that were visible as it was in its scabbard. And it was a sight to behold, gold covered the weapon’s guard and a fine red leather the handle, at the end of the pummel was a small amber stone while a bigger one sat in the middle of the cross guard.

“I guess… I found it laying on the dungeon’s floor when I was attacked by that… thing…” Jean replied.

“Thing?” Emelia asked as she again turned to look at Jean.

“I didn’t get a clear look of it… It was a large reptile of pale scales and pitch black eyes and it seemed to just have two front legs…” Jean explained.
“You killed the dungeon’s lindwurm?” Emelia asked with surprise.

“Lindwurm?” Jean asked.

“There’s been myths about a lindwurm roaming the undergrounds of the city for a while, I never quite believed in them but now that I hear it from you I don’t think you’re lying” Emelia replied “As to how it got there it’s a mystery, but Lothair told me about a suspect of whom I think you know about”

“Tanis…” Jean whispered “Thankfully I managed to use that sword to kill it, I don’t know who left it there but…”

Jean stopped talking as she noticed Emelia was putting all of her attention on the sword, which she handled awkwardly as she had never held one in her entire life. It was heavier than she expected, and with more effort than she expected to make she drew it from the scabbard and gazed at the edge, it was as sharp and clean as when Jean had found it.

“Follow me, and bring that sword with you” Emelia said as she left the weapon on the table and stood up “I need to see someone”

At a fast pace Jean followed Emelia, who was nearly running, through the house. All the servants they passed by asked what she was doing, but she didn’t answer aside from saying that she was in hurry.

They eventually stopped when Emelia reached a large central room, a library filled with tall shelves filled with books, a treasure trove of knowledge even Jean, who had never been much of a reader, couldn’t help but be impressed by.

Emelia quickly began to rummage through the books until she retrieved a large tome which she handled with difficulty until she dropped it on a table. Once there Emelia began to turn the pages rapidly, not giving time to Jean to even see what the title of the book was, and eventually she stopped on page which displayed a large illustration distributed across the two pages of seven swords.

Jean was beyond surprised when she saw that among the seven bladed weapons of the book was a drawing of a sword that looked exactly like the one she had found lying on the castle grounds a month ago, and that had saved her life in that instance.

“A sword of the ancients…” Emelia said as she turned to look at the sword Jean had laid on the table besides the book.

“What?” Jean asked with confusion.

“Centuries ago seven swords were forged for the monarchs of the continent, weapons of great power capable of fighting against the evils beyond this world” Emelia said as her gaze got lost in the amber stone encrusted in the weapon “One was given to the first queen of Drael, but the weapon was lost to time and now… you’ve found it”

Jean, who until then had regarded such stories as mere myths, was beyond surprised and confused by what Emelia was saying. But as outlandish as it sounded, a weapon of legend simply being found lying on the dungeons, Jean couldn’t deny that the weapon was identical to what was shown in the book.

“Where did you said you found it?” Emelia asked.

“Lying on the dungeons below the castle…” Jean replied with disbelief of her own words “I know it sounds impossible but I…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not saying you stole it” Emelia said as she began to look for something in the book “As surprising as it is it makes sense that it is indeed a sword of the ancients, its stainless and pristine despite being on you for a whole month, and you killed a demon with it!”

Emelia turned to the pages and stopped with her finger on top a quotation.

“Listen to this:” And she quoted ‘Legend has it, that the sword may return when evil has corrupted the kingdom from inside, when the enemy looms over Drael like its overlord and can’t simply be slain in the battlefield, then will the ancients send the sword back to the earth, where their champion will found it in a time of great need’

“Wait… This can’t be real…” Jean said as she stepped back, the revelation nearly making her loose balance “I’m not the champion of anyone! I just lost everything and I’m trying to get by…”

“Yet it appears that circumstance has made you a champion…” Emelia said as she closed the book, slightly envious of Jean “Whether you believe in it or not, you can’t deny that the prophecy sounds eerily similar to what is happening right now”

Jean leaned against one of the bookshelves as she sighed, she couldn’t help but agree with Emelia, but what did all of this mean?

“Tanis is and what she did to you and Lothair should be enough proof of the fact that evil lurks within the heart of the kingdom” Emelia said “You may not like it, but everything points to the fact that you have been chosen to make a change in the world and you can’t run away from that”

Jean fell on her knees, even though she had thought of herself as the hero who would save Lothair from the unjust fate that had befallen him, when she received the revelation that powers greater than her were expecting the same and more from her, she felt as if her spirit began to crumble. It was a fear even greater than what Tanis had inspired her, it was fear of fate itself.

“Don’t worry, we’re together in this” Emelia said as she rested a hand on Jean’s shoulder, she had never expected to need to calm a woman like Jean, but fate had truly surprised her “I may not have been chosen to fulfill a prophecy, but I think I can be of help”

That brief moment of human contact brought Jean out of her downward descent into desperation and back to her usual self. The fear was not gone, but Jean felt enough determination to take the reins of it and put back in control.

She walked towards the table and grabbed the sword, she saw herself reflected on the amber, even though the face she saw was dirty and tired, she felt once again that before her was the face of a hero.

“Okay then, what should we do?” Jean asked.

“Well, if I’m not mistaken we should go to the place where the sword was made…” Emelia replied “But I think you can afford to rest for now, you’ve earned it”

[crow3467]

One of the best stories if not the best! Big fan

[Syko Sith]

Excellent story!!! I just read all 18 chapters! Now I want to see how Jean will become the hero

[CowboyStud]

Excellent story!!! I just read all 18 chapters! Now I want to see how Jean will become the hero

I still want the prince to be the star of the series. I’m over the dames lol

[Syko Sith]

Excellent story!!! I just read all 18 chapters! Now I want to see how Jean will become the hero

I still want the prince to be the star of the series. I’m over the dames lol

Spoil sport

[banshee]

@CowboyStud @DallasNotAustin @TripleZero @crow3467 @charliesmith @VoidEmperor224 @Simo @Pleasurechip95 @harveygasson @Syko Sith Thanks for commenting enjoy part nineteen!

Chapter 19

Lothair was trying to sleep in his cell, which had become a hard task as cold started to get harsher. No matter how much he pleaded to the guards they insisted in following the prison guidelines and giving him no special treatment for his status. ‘Winter blankets will be given when winter starts’ they replied whenever Lothair asked for something to protect himself against the cold.

In fact, Lothair insistence had earned him a punishment, as now on top of having to sleep with just the meager autumn blanket, which was little more than a thick rag, he had to sleep chained.

His hands were manacled behind his back and his legs manacled together, then chained to the floor to the d ring in the middle of the room.
Chained and cold Lothair could not fall asleep no matter how hard he tried.

Since he was awake and silence ruled his cell, he heard very clearly something disturb the silence. It came from above him, and that scared him, if something came from above it could only mean that something had gotten inside his cell through the windows, and what he heard didn’t sounded like a bird.

When he rolled over to look at the source of the sound, Lothair was shocked to see a figure standing in the window, backlit by the light of the moon. As his eyes focused Lothair began to make out details of the person, hair a little past the neck, slim figure…

But before he could make out any details the figure moved and feinted leaving.

“Wait, don’t leave me!” Lothair shouted without regard of if guards could hear him or not.

To his surprise, his plead seemed to work, and the figure dropped a rope down the window and descended using it.

As the intruder reached the ground Lothair became able to tell details better than before.

She was a woman, probably around his age, she appeared to be shorter but it was hard to tell when Lothair was lying on the floor. Her hair was short and brown, her skin slightly tanned and her body impressive.

She was wearing a black top with a green opened vest over it, the top showed a flat abdomen which under the dim moonlight revealed slight hints of the abdominal muscle beneath. Her arms were covered in black arm sleeves and her shapely legs in tight black leather pants. Around her hips was a belt from which hung leather bags and a short sword, brown leather boots covered her feet up to her knees.

“Thank you I....”

“Shh” The mysterious intruder whispered as she covered Lothair’s mouth with her hand.

As she got close to him to cover his mouth, Lothair looked at her in the eyes which were now very close to his own, when their gazes met Lothair was able to tell that her eyes were of hazelnut color.

“You wouldn’t want us to be heard by the guards would you?” The girl asked teasingly as she removed her hand from Lothair’s lips.

Lothair struggled to sit down as he didn’t want to remain lying down with that girl over him.

“Who are you?” Lothair asked lowly as he watched the girl take a seat before him “What are you doing here?”

“My name is Mira” The woman replied “It’s a pleasure to meet you my prince”

Mira spoke with a mocking tone, knowing very well that the young man before her looked like little more than a handsome beggar. She extended her hand before her as if she expected Lothair to give her handshake, only to then notice that he was chained and laughing it off.

“Sorry, I didn’t see the shackles” Mira chuckled “As to why I’m here, well, I had business with a prisoner that I’ve already taken care of, but when I heard the famous murderer prince was here I just had to see it with my own eyes”

Lothair looked down, he didn’t knew what he was expecting from a mysterious girl who broke into his cell, but it was somehow disappointed to find out that she was not there to help him.

“It was nice to see you, definitely a story I’ll tell everyone when the time comes” Mira said as she stood up “But I don’t have much time so I’ll be going my way”

“Wait!” Lothair spoke as loudly as the low tone he was forcing allowed him “Take me with you, I beg you”

“Sorry can’t do” Mira replied nonchalantly “I already did what I had to do here, and I have no interest in taking a murderer with me”

“I am not a murderer” Lothair spoke tiredly.

“Sure you aren’t” Mira said as she patted Lothair in the head as she walked past him “Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be leaving”

“I’ll scream for the guards if you don’t take me” Lothair threatened.

Mira stopped on her tracks and looked at the prince over her shoulder. At that moment Lothair thought that he had gotten away with what he wanted, and when Mira walked back towards him he became convinced of it.

“Even if you did, the guards wouldn’t catch me, I managed to break inside this place, I’ll manage to break out” She said as knelt in front of Lothair “Besides, if I really wanted you to stay quiet, I could always cut that cute neck of yours…”

Mira playfully pointed her sword at the prince’s throat, leaving the tip mere inches away from puncturing his skin.

“I’m sorry I…” The prince stuttered, only then realizing the consequences of his actions “I’ll stay quiet, I promise”

A smile drew itself on Mira’s lips, maybe she could give the prince a place alongside her, although probably not what he expected, that was a detail she was willing to omit.

“Well if you keep that attitude I may take you with me after all…” Mira said as she stroked Lothair’s hair while still pointing her sword at him “Do you promise to be a good boy if I take you with me?”

“Yes, I promise” Lothair spoke, still scared but relieved to hear that Mira will help him.

“Good, let’s get you out of those chains then” Mira said as she sheathed back her sword.

Making use of a lock pick that Lothair noticed she was proficient at using Mira released Lothair from the chains. After giving him a few seconds to stretch and rub his sore wrists and ankles.

Noticing the d ring in the middle of the room, Mira decided to make use of it and tied the rope she had used to descend into the room to it with a tight and secure knot.

“I hope you’re not afraid of heights prince” Mira said as she began to climb the rope towards the window.

Even though Lothair had never considered that fear, he was quickly terrified by the sight of the ground so far below him when he left the cell through the window, had Mira not told him to keep his eyes up he would have likely lost his sight and eventually fallen.

Lothair’s strength was put to the test as they descended, he didn’t got the pleasure of enjoying a taste of freedom as the pain in his muscles racked his body during the whole descent until he could use the wall to stand on, but even then he could not rest, because if he did the subsequent fall would kill him.

When they reached the ground Lothair sighed deeply which prompted Mira to cover his mouth to keep his noise down. She only let go of him after reminding him of his promise to be a good boy for her.

“I hope you’re ready to swim my prince” Mira said, still mocking referring to Lothair as ‘my prince’.

“What?”

“You can’t expect us to leave through the bridge, we will swim under it just like I did to enter this place” Mira explained “If you’re worried about it being cold let me tell you, its cold as hell and it will be much cooler now that its nighttime, so get ready”

“I guess we don’t have another option don’t we?” Lothair sighed.

“No, we don’t” Mira replied.

Much like Mira had warned him, the water was freezing, in the dead of a cold night that was to be expected, but Lothair felt like it was the first time he felt so cold.

Mira, who was much better about keeping her teeth from chattering because of the cold, dragged Lothair by the hand behind him. She had already taken him with her, she could not afford to loose him, otherwise she would have broken him out for nothing.

When they reached the edge of the river they swam with the current, perfectly stuck against the edge as to not be seen and not to be carried by the currents, and after what felt like an eternity they finally left the water at a good distance from the prison, far enough for it to be but a small light in the distance.

“Let’s get to the forest, I’ll make a fire there” Mira said shivering.

The mere promise of a fire was enough to get Lothair’s tired wet body through the cold wind of the night into the edge of the forest, where among a dense group of trees Mira began to work on a fire, which she quickly got going since she was also eager to warm herself up.

Under the light of the bonfire Lothair saw that this place seemed to be campsite, a tent had been well hidden among the bushes and inside he could see bedrolls and traveling backpack.

“I left this ready for my escape, never expected to bring you with me so don’t expect any special accommodations” Mira said as she notice the prince looking at her stuff.

“Don’t worry” Lothair said as he warmed himself “This fire is more than enough”

Lothair fell asleep on the ground next to the fire soon after he had dried himself, he appeared to be sleeping placidly, even with a slight hint of a smile on his face, despite being in the sole shelter of a few bushes and dressed with the exact same prison clothes he had been wearing for more than a month.
Mira stood up and looked down at the prince, she was struggling to believe that she had actually done what she did, but at that point it was beyond late for walking it back. She went to her tent and grabbed some rope, then she moved back next to prince.

“Now what I’m going to do with you?” She asked herself.

[Syko Sith]

Uh oh. Another predicament for Lothair.
Now I'm curious what Mira is planning . Excellent story still!