Ulrich and Orinda arrived at the smithy just as the sun disappeared behind the hills on the other side of the valley. Ulrich lit some torches and found the smith’s grindstones. He cleaned the soil off the sword and checked for rust of which he found none. Orinda was a good warrior. Then he set about grinding the edges to even out the chips. The sparks cast a warm glow across his face in the dim light. Wanting to examine the sword closer to see if it was a dragonblade, he looked across at Orinda who was undoing her plait, freeing her hair. Distracted, he watched as she combed her hair with her fingers, Ulrich thought of how it looked like gold in the light of the torches.
‘Do you have a husband?’ he asked.
‘I used to, he was killed three years ago,’ Orinda replied.
Ulrich happy with the new edge transferred to the finer wheel to give the sword a polish.
‘Is that why you became a blancher, to avenge him?’
‘No I was already a warrior when he died.’
‘And you haven’t met anyone since?’
‘I haven’t been looking. I just take my pleasure when I want, with any man that takes my fancy. How about yourself, do you have a girlfriend waiting back at home?’
Ulrich paused as he thought of Idela.
‘I had a friend who is a girl,’ he replied.
‘But you would like her to be more?’
He blushed. ‘Yes and I think she did too, but she was selected,’ Ulrich said. ‘Anyway, mother thought she was too old for me.’
‘How old was she?’
‘Twenty, I think.’ He finished the polishing and carried the long sword to Orinda. She stood up ready to accept it.
‘And how old are you?’
‘Sixteen.’ He had to look up to see her eyes, as she was nearly half a head taller.
‘So you like older women,’ Orinda teased him.
Embarrassed he looked down at the sword he held out in his arms, the torchlight glinting off the razor sharp edge. A tight feeling was growing around his chest.
‘I bet that you could shave with it, but I see that you have no beard.’
Orinda’s observation only reminded him of his mother’s comments about his age.
‘So would I be correct in guessing that you haven’t any hairs on your chest?’ Orinda added and quickly slipped a hand up his shirt to find out.
Shocked at her forwardness, he almost jumped back, but managed to stop himself. Her cool hand gently splayed out over his heart and felt for the non-existent hairs. He looked back up at her face, hoping that she was not doing this to tease him. She was smiling but he could not read why.
‘You didn’t refuse to go along with Alwin and Werner because you didn’t like me did you?’ There was fierceness in her voice, and her hand’s movement suddenly became firmer.
‘No, I find you very attractive,’ Ulrich replied quickly. Her hand became gentle again and her face softened.
‘Hey, you have some chest muscles!’ Orinda’s hand strayed up and out over his chest. ‘They’re so big.’ She reached forward with her other hand, and Ulrich moved the sword from between them to allow her access. With both of Orinda’s hands upon his chest, Ulrich felt the tightness around it grow. He watched her face as she looked down as if she was trying to see through the material of his shirt. He licked his lips as he felt the urge to lean forward and kiss hers.
‘They’re quite amazing. I’ve never felt anything like them before.’ Her expression changed from teasing smile, to amusement, to puzzlement and back again. Her hands became firmer and a warm feeling started to spread through his body. The feeling in his chest became pleasurable and soon her moving hands forced him to make a little moan. Orinda looked into his eyes, and he prayed that she was not tantalising him.
Orinda became stern. ‘The truth now, why didn’t you join Alwin and Werner?’ she demanded.
‘I, um, didn’t, um, don’t know what to do.’ Suddenly it became easier for Ulrich to confess. ‘I don’t know how to get my todger to work. No one’s shown me and I can’t get it to come out.’
Orinda’s face softened, but she did not laugh, to Ulrich’s relief; he worried that she might find this amusing.
‘I could help you. Would you like that?’ Again, she did not appear to be teasing, her face was warm and sympathetic.
‘Please,’ Ulrich replied.
Orinda moved closer and Ulrich could feel the faint pressure of her chest against his. She gently placed her lips over his, remembering Idela’s tutorage back in the warehouse in Twofords, he followed her pace. She moved one of her hands down from his chest and across his stomach, which tickled. She pushed it down his waistband and reached down for his groin.
Ulrich’s breath grew shorter and he moved his feet apart to give Orinda easier access. Ulrich tensed as she reached her destination and started to explore. Her fingers found the flesh and skin and moved, pushed and probed.
Ulrich sensed a change in her kiss and she paused, the movements of her hand and broke the kiss. There was a hint of uncertainty in her expression; did she think he was too young for her? Ulrich brought his free hand up, reached under Orinda’s shirt, and gently stroked the skin of one of her breasts. It was warm and smooth to the touch and when his fingers brushed against the erect nipple, Orinda moaned the word no.
‘Please don’t tease me,’ Ulrich pleaded and at the same time, he gently squeezed Orinda’s breast and she moaned again.
Orinda licked her lips and Ulrich took this as a signal to kiss her so he leant his head forward, and gently moved his lips across hers. She pulled her head back and looked deep into his eyes, he felt as if she was trying to get inside his head. Then, as if she had made a decision, she kissed him again, but with an increased vigour.
The hand on his chest squeezed harder and the one on his groin renewed its exploration. Ulrich felt his passion rising and continued to caress Orinda’s breast. She kissed him harder, their breaths quickening and then her hand on his groin found that magic spot. The spot he would find for himself at night when he dreamt of girls. She must have sensed this because she stopped exploring and concentrated on the sensitive area.
His passion almost at its height, his knees began to weaken. Ulrich knew what would happen if Orinda continued and then it occurred to him that he should be reciprocating. He squeezed her breast as he had before and she made a stifled moan. His other hand still held the dragonblade and he decided it would be better employed arousing Orinda. Without thinking, he dropped the sword.
It clattered loudly when it hit the stone floor and Orinda jumped back in surprise, removing her hands from under Ulrich’s clothing in the process. She took two more steps back, one hand stretched out in front of her, as if to fend off some monster, the other covered her mouth, a look of horror on her face. Ulrich stepped towards her. She put her hand on his chest stopping him.
‘This is wrong,’ she said, ‘I don’t do this.’
‘You said that you took your pleasure with any man you wanted,’ Ulrich reminded her.
‘But you’re not a man,’ she said.
Pained by this insult Ulrich pleaded, ‘you said that you would help me become one. You would get my todger out.’ Orinda looked at him, her expression hard.
‘You’re not pretending are you?’ Orinda asked.
Ulrich was confused by her question and did not reply. She moved closer to him, took his face in her hands and looked him in the eyes.
‘You don’t know do you,’ she said. It was not a question, it was a statement.
‘What do you mean?’ A sudden feeling of fear washed over him.
‘You haven’t got a todger,’ Orinda said, staring at his eyes as if she was trying to look inside him.
‘I know, and you said that you could find it and get it to come out.’
‘There isn’t one to find. I know, I had a good feel.’ Her hands tightened their grip on his face. ‘Ulrich listen to me. You are a girl!’
Ulrich did not understand. He just wanted Orinda to finish what she had started earlier, but she continued to hold his head.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked.
‘Do you really think that you are a boy, or are you only pretending?’ Orinda asked.
Ulrich was still confused.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ he repeated.
‘If the Selector was to examine you now, he would find that you do not possess a penis, or todger, you have a vagina and are starting to develop breasts. He would see that you are a girl passing yourself off as a boy and you would be forfeit. You would automatically be selected, because he would assume that you had been trying to avoid selection.
‘When you arrived at the citadel, you would be sacrificed to the Dragon the next morning. There would be no second sacrificial selection or chance to join the corps.’ Orinda had raised her voice, as if trying to get Ulrich to comprehend the situation.
‘Stop it, your talking about things I’ve never heard of, you’re scaring me,’ Ulrich pleaded. He looked into Orinda’s eyes trying to see if why she was doing this. Was she teasing him? If she was, why? Her concern seemed genuine. She seemed to be waiting for him to say something, but he did not know what.
‘Why is it that everywhere we go you have women throwing themselves at you?’
Ulrich had not heard his uncle come into the smithy. Had he seen or heard what had happened?
Orinda stood back a stony look on her face.
‘What have you got that girls love?’ Dafied continued.
‘Honesty,’ Orinda snapped defiantly, ‘and innocence.’ She had released his face and now faced Dafied. Ulrich wondered why she was so angry, and then he noticed Peta standing behind his uncle. She looked frightened, her eyes wide, her face pale.
‘Have you given your prisoner her parole?’ Dafied asked.
‘Not yet,’ he replied, indicating the sword lying on the floor.
‘Maybe I should assign her to Alwin. I thought she would be safer with you, but are you safe with her?’
‘No, she’s my prisoner,’ Ulrich said. ‘Why don’t you like me being on my own with a girl? In Ricksham you stopped me from going with that whore.’
‘I made a promise to your mother.’
‘I heard you, you said that you would keep me as a boy. Isn’t the whole idea of going to war, is to make a man of me?’ He watched his uncle look at Orinda then back to him.
‘What were you two up to before I came in? How far had you gone?’
‘Far enough,’ interrupted Orinda.
‘Ulrich, you had better go to bed. I need to see if this prisoner deserves her parole,’ Dafied suggested.
Ulrich looked at Orinda, what would his uncle do?
‘She knows,’ said Orinda. ‘I told her, but I’m not sure she understands.’
Ulrich did not know who to trust, Dafied was family, but why would Orinda lie?
‘She said that I was a girl. Is she right?’ Ulrich demanded.
‘Look just go to bed and I’ll sort this out,’
‘This concerns me. Is she telling the truth?’
Dafied paused, Ulrich thought that his uncle was calming himself to avoid loosing his temper.
‘This is silly,’ Dafied replied.
‘Am I a girl, Uncle?’ Ulrich pleaded.
‘I said you aren’t. Who are you going to believe a stranger who tried to kill you or.’
‘Someone who is frightened of their own sister,’ Peta interrupted him.
Ulrich had forgotten that Peta was in the room, and looked to her for help.
‘I’m sorry Ulrich,’ Peta continued, ‘but it is true.’
‘What do you know?’ Dafied snapped at her.
‘I used to nurse you as a child, when your mother had to leave and help your aunt.’ Peta paused then looked Ulrich directly in the eye. ‘You are a girl.’
***
The earth seemed to tilt; Ulrich felt as if the air had been sucked out of her chest, and she grabbed onto the table. She steadied herself and thought back over her childhood. Her family had always over protected her. She had thought it was because she was an only child, and that her mother and father had difficulty conceiving. Things started to make sense; her mother always insisted that she not allow others to see her body and made sure that she was out of the way, when others were changing. She had assumed that it was common decency, yet her mother showed no such inhibitions herself. How long could they have kept the pretence up? The fine set of chest muscles that she thought that she was developing, Orinda claimed that they were breasts. Why had they not developed earlier, surely they should be fully formed by now? She thought of an answer.
‘Why did my mother make me eat powder of dragon scales?’ she asked her uncle.
Orinda snorted knowingly.
‘To stop you turning from a girl into a woman,’ he explained.
‘It’s a contraceptive,’ Orinda said.
‘A what?’ asked Ulrich.
‘It stops women getting pregnant; having babies, but your mother also added an extract of crushed animal testis,’ Peta explained. ‘It causes sterility in women and stops the onset of puberty in girls. It stops them turning into women. However, women who take it constantly also tend to die younger. It doesn’t take much of the dragon scales to prevent pregnancies, but to stop puberty takes quite a high dose of the testis extract. I would suggest you stop taking it.’
‘He did, I mean she did, when she left home,’ said Dafied. ‘I never approved of this course of action, I always thought that you should have taken your chances at selection, but I was only your uncle and your mother thought she knew best.’
‘And what did my father think?’
‘He still thinks that you are a boy.’
Ulrich looked at him in shock. Orinda appeared to be amazed too.
‘How?’ the blancher asked. ‘Your mother must be some woman.’
‘I think we need to eat,’ Dafied suggested. ‘Peta and I’ll gather a meal, why don’t you two commandeer the smith’s house next door.’
Ulrich found herself alone with Orinda.
Orinda walked over to Ulrich. ‘Are you alright?’’ she asked.
The younger girl nodded. Orinda took her in her arms and held her for a few minutes. Ulrich felt like an empty shell. Her whole life had been turned upside down. What would her future be? She looked up at Orinda.
‘What am I to do?’ she pleaded.
Orinda looked at her tear-streaked face.
‘Just take it a minute at a time. Don’t rush things. I’ll help you if you want.’
A sudden thought hit Ulrich. ‘Maybe it was better that Idela was eaten by the Dragon. I doubt she would still want me?’
‘I have heard of women who love their own kind, they sometimes try to hang around blancher camps.’
‘Are you?’ Ulrich asked.
‘No,’ Orinda replied gently. ‘Although I was sorely tempted a few minutes ago.’
‘Why did you stop?’ Orinda smiled
‘It wouldn’t have been fair. I was sure that you were ignorant and afterwards we would have lain there, with you thinking that you had become a man. It would have been wrong. Come on, let’s get inside and see if we can light a fire.’
***
The smith’s house was a single roomed building with a simple fire to cook upon. There was a low pallet acting as a bed for two.
All the food had been removed either by the smith and his family or by the villagers as they built up a stockpile to see them through the siege. Orinda searched out a rag and dusted down the simple table, whilst Ulrich set about lighting a fire.
Soon they had the little house welcoming and Peta returned with Dafied carrying cooked meat, various vegetables, a loaf of bread and a jug of ale. Ulrich searched out some eating utensils. They ate quickly without pausing to talk until their hunger was sated.
‘I’ll bed down with the others; you three can bed down here. Bar the door after I’ve gone,’ Dafied stood up and started to leave.
‘Whoa!’ exclaimed Orinda. ‘You owe Ulrich an explanation.’
He paused then sat down again.
‘Alright; what do you want to know?’ he asked Ulrich.
‘Why did my mother treat me like a boy?’ she asked.
‘Well that’s obvious, they didn’t want to loose you to the Dragon,’ he explained, ‘but your father also had his heart set on a son. Your parents had difficulty conceiving you.’
Ulrich looked at him in puzzlement.
‘They found it difficult to make babies; they had lots of attempts before they had you. They thought that you might be their only chance.
‘When you were born Bruna was so upset, she was almost inconsolable, that at first she denied that you were a girl. She told Norbert that you were a boy, and even when she acknowledged you were a girl she carried on the pretence. Partly because she was too frightened to upset Norbert, and then she found that powder of dragon’s scales would prevent you becoming a woman.
‘She clung to the belief that the Dragon is old and would die before you became eligible for sacrifice. As you got older, she kept on putting the day off when she would tell you. I think she had come to love you as you were and didn’t want you to change.’
Ulrich took this all in and Orinda listened closely. Dafied took a swig of ale and waited for the next question.
‘How did you find out?’ Ulrich asked.
‘Your grandmother attended Bruna when you were born, and I had accompanied her. I was in the next room when you were born. It was not an easy birth and your mother’s wailing when she discovered you were a girl was quite loud and your grandmother asked me in to look after you whilst she calmed her down.
‘Mother handed you naked to me and so I could see your true sex. In her hysterics, Bruna hatched the idea that you were a boy. Mother told me to humour her until she had calmed down and recovered her strength.’
‘How did she keep it a secret from father for so long?’
‘That turned out to be easier than she thought, as Norbert didn’t like the messy side of parenthood and would get out of the way whenever you needed changing, or bathing. Bruna made sure that everyone kept their modesty.
‘That meant quite a change as they were used to bathing together daily in the river during the summer, and as their relationship developed they couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. Before they had you, they made love whenever the fancy took them. They developed quite a reputation after a couple of occasions when customers called unexpectedly to find them at it.’
‘What do I do now?’
‘Nothing,’ replied Dafied. ‘Just carry on as before.’
‘She can’t do that,’ interrupted Orinda. She had sat quietly as Dafied told Ulrich’s history. She turned to Ulrich, ‘you’ve stopped taking the powder, and already you are showing outward signs of womanhood. I don’t know if starting again will stop any further development, but I do know that it will kill you in the end.’
Ulrich started to feel confused and frightened, but her uncle sat and thought.
‘You could accept the situation and live your life as a girl, but the Selector might say that you are forfeit. I have only heard of girls who have knowingly hidden their true gender and been found out when they have been eligible for some time. What if you came forward voluntarily, would the Selector just put you forward for selection as normal or would he declare you forfeit? That is a chance you would have to take.’ Dafied paused, ‘Or we could arrive at Castle Peth with you wearing your maiden’s clothes and if challenged just claim that some cleric made an error. I could send a message to Bruna warning her that you have found out. She would then have to break the news to Norbert and when they took up residence they declare that they have a daughter and not a son.’
A feeling of panic washed over Ulrich.
‘Oh poor father, I don’t think I should do this to him.’
‘I think you should be thinking of yourself at this time, it’s your life that is at risk,’ Orinda pointed out.
‘And you would need marking,’ Peta added, ‘I could do it for you. You would have to allow plenty of time for the brand to scar properly, and then bluff it out if the Selector questions why you were not registered.’
‘You should take a little time,’ Orinda suggested, ‘and give yourself some space. We should leave you alone and let you have some sleep.’
‘I agree,’ Dafied said. ‘I’ll go now. Remember to secure the door after I’ve gone.’
***
Ulrich closed the door following Dafied’s departure, glanced around and found the bar lying behind the big dresser that dominated the inside of the little house. Orinda walked round shuttering the windows.
‘I’ll make myself comfortable in front of the fire you two women can have the bed, if you like,’ Ulrich said.
‘I should give you that talk I promised,' Peta said to Ulrich.
'In which case, I'll take the floor, if you two have unfinished business,’ Orinda insisted and started to clear the wooden table.
Peta joined Ulrich in helping her to pile the eating utensils on the dresser. When they had finished Orinda returned to the table to find the only item that remained was her sword. Ulrich noticed her hesitate, and quickly picked it up and offered it to her.
‘I don’t think Dafied would approve,’ Orinda said.
‘I trust you,’ countered Ulrich forcefully.
‘Thank you,’ Orinda said as she took back her sword.
Orinda insisted they tip the table over to act as a partition for the room. Ulrich sat on the pallet, the straw mattress was only thinly packed and she wandered if it would be any more comfortable than the floor. She pulled off her boots and trousers, leaving her shirt on. Turning round she found some rough animal skins that would provide a little warmth. Taking one, she approached Orinda. The older woman had sat on the floor to undress. Looking up at her, Orinda did not hide her nakedness. Ulrich recalled undressing Duncan’s body and compared the memory with what she saw. It was the final confirmation.
She returned to the pallet, moved across to leave room for Peta and watched as the Midwife took off her skirts. The midwife's blouse was longer than her shirt and ended just above the knees, but as Peta turned, she was silhouetted against the glow from the fire. Ulrich could see the outline of her body faintly through the shirt’s material as the midwife reached up and started to comb her hair.
'You know Eloise's offer,' Ulrich said quietly.
'Uhuh,' Peta replied.
'Would you have let me take it up?'
'I was planning to tell you the truth on the return journey. Telling you earlier, you have been a dangerous distraction for you in a fight. You know you are a girl, but I think it may take some time before you truly believe it.'
'That's why you wanted to select a whore for me. You would pick one who wouldn't react like Orinda did.'
'Exactly. There's a lot more I need to tell you.'
'Are there more lies, by my mother?'
'No, it's all part of the same one. You need to know exactly what happens between a man and a woman when they make love, but I'm trying to think where to start.'
'You could tell me what a todger is.'
A badly stifled laugh from Orinda interrupted the conversation.
'I suggest you get some sleep,' Peta shouted to the warrior, 'I've got a long night ahead.'
No comments:
Post a Comment