The Black Islands - Kassarath

Mikal

It was said that the Black Islands beyond the Black Sea were dark and haunted by demons. For centuries, banished sinners and outlaws had been sent there as a punishment, to be devoured by dark spirits and bleeding mountains. But as Mikal made his first step into the eastern lands, he realized that whatever he had heard about the Eastern Kingdom of Kassarath was completely untrue. Rather than being a kingdom of darkness and evil, this was truly a kingdom of light.

"Holy Heavens!" Hilda gasped as she leapt from the ship and landed next to Mikal. And he could not blame her. The sun shone perfectly in the cloudless skies, bathing everything beneath it in dazzling gold and silver. Everything seemed to glitter and sparkle, from the long running streams and the countless azure springs, to the shimmering marble fountains and the gilded city walls.

Mounting their Pegasi, they flew speechless, awed by the breathtaking beauty of the city before them. And as they finally arrived at the castle gates, the King was standing in their reception, dressed in extravagant scarlet robes, his long black hair matching his sleek black wings, and his deep black eyes further lined in black paint.

"We finally meet again, my boy," King Serenus smiled as he greeted Mikal.

"It is my pleasure, Your Grace." Mikal bowed elegantly. And just as he got up, King Serenus had pulled him in his arms and landed a kiss on his cheek. Mikal tensed, unaccustomed to such familiarity, and he quickly took a step backwards as Serenus released him.

"King Serenus," Hilda stepped forward at once, wasting no chance to announce her presence. "I have heard all about Your Highness and Your Great Kingdom. It is such a pleasure to finally meet Your Grace in person."

"And who are you?" Serenus eyed her curiously.

"I am Hilda of Grytia, prime advisor of the high ruling council of Nordenland and sole heiress to the city of Grytia and the Grytian gold mines."

"Why Lady Hilda, of course," Serenus smiled before he landed a kiss on her cheek as well.

"Your Grace, allow me to introduce my father, Lord Frederik of Grytia, owner of the great Grytian gold mines. And this is Lord Bernard Nordstrom of Nordenvania, no need to mention of course, the great renowned Lord and Guardian of Nordenland. And this fine young Knight here, is Sir Vilfred Nordstrom, high member of the ruling council and the greatest swordsman in Nordenland."

Mikal rolled his eyes as Hilda decided to take it upon herself to lead the introductions, furthermore labelling Vilfred as the best swordsman in Nordenland! Everyone knew no one could rival Mikal when it came to swordsmanship.

After the greetings were over, they were taken to their chambers to rest after the long journey, only to be invited a short while later by King Serenus to join him in his favorite hot spring. Mikal was not pleased, nor was anyone. They had only just arrived, and they needed to rest. But no one could refuse an invitation from the King. Unwillingly, Mikal followed the others to the spring, yet as they reached the place, they were grateful for Serenus's invitation after all.

Located on a high secluded hill within the castle grounds, it was literally a piece of heaven. Weeping willows and exotic plants framed the large silver spring while black rocks lined its bed. Tiny bubbles escaped to the surface of the crystal clear water, its heat breathing out thin shrouds of translucent smoke. The tinkling of water and the chirping of exotic birds filled the air with soft melodies, soothing even the most restless of bodies and minds.

"The water in this spring is magical," King Serenus said as his guests joined him. "Sitting here for just a few minutes is much better than a whole night sleep."

The spring water was magical indeed. Mikal could literally feel all the fatigue being sucked out of his body and he was instantly revived. He closed his eyes, his body deeply relaxing in the hot soothing water. He heard soft giggling sounds, and he opened his eyes again quickly, wondering if he had relaxed too much that he started to dream. But he was not dreaming. 

A group of six heavenly winged girls were now approaching the spring, dressed in nothing but thin towels wrapped around their bodies, barely covering their bouncing breasts and swaying hips. Not only Mikal, but Bernard, Frederik, and Vilfred all sat upright, awestruck as the girls entered the spring and swam towards them.

"I like to keep my guests entertained," Serenus explained.

One girl attended each to Bernard, Frederik and Vilfred, while the remaining three eagerly surrounded Mikal. Mikal smiled as a freckled red head stuck to his side. Another girl, a pale beauty with midnight black hair, stuck to his other side and started brushing her fingers through his locks in an attempt to grab his attention. The third girl, a dark exotic beauty with unruly chestnut curls, apparently the most daring of them all, straightforwardly straddled him. He held his breath and quickly stopped her. He was not going to fuck a girl in front of everyone! The girl pouted sulkily and got off him.

The moment she moved away, clearing his line of vision, his eyes widened in surprise. At the other side of the spring, Hilda stood stripped of all her usual confidence as well as her clothes. She stood shyly holding the thin towel which was securely wound around her body, her cheeks blushing deeply and her feet hesitating to enter the spring.

"Ah Hilda! Please do join us my child," Serenus urged. 

Mikal was still staring at Hilda, genuinely amused by her unusual appearance. She had quite a good figure, but what intrigued him the most were her soft breasts which were scantily covered by the useless towel. Where and how they had been hidden all along, was a true mystery. And he realized that it was her bad choice of unflattering dress designs that had concealed the woman beneath. He noticed how she blushed deeper and scowled at him, further raising the towel up to hide her cleavage, only to expose more of her long slender legs. As she realized what happened she quickly slipped into the spring to conceal her body. Mikal chuckled softly.

Hilda was still scowling at Mikal as the entertainers surrounded him, their bodies brushing against him as they flirted and played with his hair. He threw Hilda a teasing smile as he whispered something to the black haired girl right next to him. And the next moment, the girl grabbed her friend's hand and they both swam towards Hilda. Mikal tried to stop himself from laughing. The look on Hilda's horrified face was priceless as one of the girls wrapped an arm around her shoulder while the other brushed her lips over her cheeks. Hilda stiffened and quickly pulled away from the girls.

"Lady Hilda," Mikal called out. "Don't you know that it's very rude to refuse your host's entertainers?"

"It is alright. Perhaps the lady is not interested in girls," Serenus smiled. "I too, am not interested in girls ," he declared shamelessly to the shock of everyone. It was no secret, but it was still very shocking to hear it straight and clear from the King himself. "I have a very exquisite collection of boys, I am certain you will find among them one or more to your liking. Vina!" Serenus called to the attending chamberlain. "Will you bring my boys here for the lady to choose?"

"No!" Hilda said at once, almost shouting in horror. "I mean, thank you very much Your Grace, for your great generosity, but that will not be necessary. I am sure your boys are extraordinarily handsome, and I will surely find them all to my liking, but then I am afraid their beauty would turn to be a great distraction, and I rather enjoy your company and have a good talk!"

"Ah! The good talk can wait."

"But King Serenus, I am sure you must be wondering why we have come all the way to Kassarath, and nothing would please me more than revealing our reasons right away and putting your mind at ease," Hilda continued, still attempting to drive King Serenus away from calling his boys to the spring. And her trick worked. King Serenus listened intently as Hilda spoke, taking the initiative as usual to lead the discussion herself.

***

It must have been the effect of the calming spring water, for Serenus had agreed at once to grant them any number of mercenaries they required. Everyone was utterly surprised. Even the payment negotiations went much smoother than they had expected. Yet Mikal didn't want to get so drawn into high hopes, for this was too good to be true.

"I have only one condition," Serneus said, killing off the excitement at once. "One of you will have to stay here as a hostage, to guarantee I receive full payment after the battle is won." Serenus was now smiling at Mikal. Of course, Serenus would not agree to all their terms unconditionally.

"Will this really be necessary, Your Grace?" Hilda asked. "We promise to hand the gold to your mercenaries before they leave Grytia. And if we don't, they can just kill us right there."

"No." The King's expression darkened at once. Everyone paled at his sudden transformation from a gentle hospitable old man to everything they had pictured the dark Eastern demons to be, with his rigid face and dangerously narrowed eyes. "I want a hostage to stay here, and the gold shall be handed to me in person along with my returning men," Serenus said, before he turned to look at Mikal again. Mikal's heart pounded hard, trying to dismiss why the King was constantly looking at him. 

"And the hostage I choose to stay here, is Mikal," Serenus decided at once, and Mikal's heart sank. 

"But, Your Grace, Mikal is my army commander. Who is going to lead my army if you take him as hostage?" It was Bernard who spoke. It was no surprise to Mikal that Bernard wanted to keep him close, and it confirmed that he still intended to kill him. Because Bernard would not be able to kill Mikal when he was thousands of miles away beyond the Black Sea.

"Hasn't Lady Hilda said that Vilfred is the best swordsman in Nordenland?" Serenus said. "I am certain he can lead your army then."

"Being a good swordsman doesn't necessarily mean being a good army leader, King Serenus," Mikal said, trying as hard as he could to sound calm and confident. "I am afraid no one else can lead Bernard's army in my stead."

"Mikal! I am being generous enough to agree to all of your demands." Serenus's expression grew even darker. "I am giving you ten thousand of my men. I am willing to wait for payment as long as the war takes. And you don't want to answer to my only request. How selfish of you."

"King Serenus is right," Hilda said with a provoking smirk. "Stop being too selfish."

"Hilda!" Frederik muttered. "Be quiet, please."

"It is only a small price to pay, if you stay here until the war is over," Serenus continued. "And it is not only about this coming war. Have you forgotten that I have honored the agreement we signed three years ago? I have kept my word and refrained from attacking Nordenland all these years."

A long moment of silence followed. While he did not say it out aloud, Serenus was obviously giving them an indirect threat. Mikal knew at that moment that he was the only one who could get himself out of this situation. He took in a deep breath as he made up his mind.

"Alright, Your Grace. As you wish," Mikal said, not showing any hint of dismay.

"Mikal!" Bernard whispered in disbelief, just as everyone else was staring at him in surprise. Even Hilda.

"It is alright Bernard. If it pleases King Serenus, then I shall stay here."

"Very good!" The King grinned.

"How smart of you Mikal!" Hilda called out teasingly, yet the look of disbelief was still obviously drawn on her face. "I must admit I haven't expected that of you. Well then, we finally discover you do have a brain beneath that pretty hair of yours."

"Of course I do," Mikal smirked back at her as he pulled the black haired girl into his embrace. "I would be really stupid if I left all these beautiful girls here and went to Grytia with you." Mikal then started deliberately caressing the girl who giggled shamelessly, and heedless of all surrounding eyes, he landed his lips onto hers.

It must have angered Hilda, for she got out of the spring at once and stood glaring at him. But she seemed totally unaware of how the thin wet towel was stuck to her body, revealing every detail of her full round breasts. Thankfully, Vina hurried with a long thick robe and covered her quickly, for not only Mikal, but Vilfred and Bernard as well had turned to stare at Hilda's semi-naked body. Mikal realized that her face was blushing deeply, but whether it was in ire or embarrassment, he could not tell. With burning daggers shooting from her eyes, Hilda turned and hurried away.

Bernard and Frederik too left shortly after Hilda, leaving only Mikal and Vilfred with Serenus and his winged entertainers as they still indulged in the healing hot spring.

"Do you know that Bernard is not paying for your mercenaries?" Mikal said as he sipped some wine from a gold cup the King had offered him.

"What do you mean?"

"It is Hilda's father who owns the gold."

"And?" Serenus took a sip from his own cup before he landed it down at the edge of the pool and approached Mikal. "Whoever owns the gold, what difference does it make?" Serenus asked as he sat closely by Mikal's side. Mikal stiffened and shifted slightly closer to Vilfred.

"If you want to take a hostage, shouldn't you take someone who matters to the payer?" Mikal said, trying to sound as calm as he seemed.

The King narrowed his black eyes. "Are you still trying to find an excuse not to stay here?"

"I am not making excuses. It is not that I do not want to stay here, it is what I am staying here for. What if Frederik refuses to pay? You will kill me then."

"Well, that would be such a big waste!" Serenus pouted.

"And you will get nothing," Mikal added calmly. "So, if you want to guarantee your gold, you have to hold a hostage that is valuable to Frederik."

"And are you, his daughter's fiancé, not valuable to him?"

"Of course not," Mikal smiled. "Frederik hates to see me marry his daughter. I know he is only using us to take back his lands and gold mines. And I would not be surprised if he decided to betray me and Bernard, and you too, and not fulfill the payment."

"If you know such a thing, then why are you still helping him?"

"Because we are interested in his gold as well."

"A hostage that is valuable to Frederik, hmm... so I should take his daughter too!"

"You should take his daughter, instead of me," Mikal corrected him calmly, but his heart was racing before this cunning and never surrendering creature.

"You still insist on not staying here..." Serenus narrowed his eyes.

"King Serenus, I would very much love to stay here. But if I do, I cannot guarantee our victory because I cannot trust anyone else to lead our army, which means I cannot guarantee you get your gold as well."

Serenus burst out laughing, and Mikal's heart fell. It was a dark evil laugh, one that said Serenus could see right through Mikal.

"That was really clever!" Serenus said.

"Your Grace..."

"You would do anything to have your way, hmm?" Serenus smiled slyly as he toyed with his long black beard. "Well, that's a skill I believe might prove more useful on the battlefield after all..."

Mikal held his breath in anticipation, while Serenus continued to toy with his beard, along with Mikal's nerves.

"Perhaps indeed we cannot trust any other to win this war and guarantee my gold." Serenus turned to Mikal with a dark leer. "You are very smart, boy. And for that, I will let you go."

***

"You're a genius," Vilfred whispered as he and Mikal walked back to their chamber. Mikal smiled knowingly.

"Of course. You really think I was going to let myself stay here with that snake? Fuck, I get shivers every time he looks at me."

"I don't blame you. He keeps looking at you like he wants to eat you. But at least we know Hilda would be safe around him, since he's not interested in girls."

"Who the fuck cares for Hilda's safety anyway." Mikal sneered. But then he remembered how Vilfred flirted with her on their engagement day, and he frowned.

Sudden giggles echoed though the corridor as Mikal and Vilfred approached their chamber. They turned to look towards the source of the sound, and they barely caught the glimpse of silver wings, white flesh, and red curls, before the creature disappeared behind a nearby gilded pillar.

********************************