Long Live the Emperor: Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Alvin was quite humiliated to be tied by the hands and ankles and thrown over Lady Mabel’s horse. She glowered at him the whole time she tied him up, insisting she do the job herself instead of letting one of her soldiers or knights do it.

“You let me win,” Lady Mabel accused.

“Perhaps I’m not as good a swordsman as you remember,” Alvin said, speaking truthfully.

“No one who’d been through a day of training would let their sword be struck from their hands with the first blow.”

Maybe she was right. Alvin wouldn’t know. After all, he hadn’t been through even a day of training himself.

The ride back to the castle was both long and humiliating. They took the long way about the tower and paraded him through the town square. By now, the soldiers had East Water well in hand and had forced every town member, from the poorest boy to the richest hag, out into the town square. There, they lined up in a long row while they searched the various homes and made sure there were none of Aldrich’s warriors laying in wait.

“I paid good money for that sword. You can’t confiscate it!” A merchant cried with his hands in the air.

But Count Grandhill’s soldiers were insistent. They pushed him back with the others, where he sprawled backward on his ass. A spear point aimed at his chest kept him there.

Alvin came into sight, trussed up like a hog before the feast. The knight riding ahead of Lady Mabel hollered to get the attention of both soldiers and townsfolk alike.

“Behold, Aldrich, former Baron of East Water!” the knight said. “And Lady Mabel, daughter of Count Grandhill. Lady Mabel defeated former Baron Aldrich in battle and now claims him as her prisoner. His lands now belong to Count Grandhill, as do you, his former subjects. Vent your anger at your former lord!”

The voices in the crowd, furious moments ago, turned suddenly quiet.

“Lord Aldrich! They got Lord Aldrich!” a woman cried.

“Hang in there, my lord. Surely the other lords won’t stand for this.”

“Unhand Lord Aldrich this instant!” Another shouted.

Sensing the crowd wasn’t going the way he expected, the knight gestured to the rest of the soldiers. They took up positions, and those who didn’t already have their swords drawn drew them now. With weapons bare, they pushed the crowd back and began jeering and laughing in their place.

“Ha! Not much of a lord anymore!” One soldier laughed.

“Grab some fruits from that stand. We’ll throw them at him!” Another jeered.

“So it turns out our Lady Mabel is the better swordsman, after all!”

The townsfolk glowered in silence as the soldiers mocked their lord and conquered their town.

Alvin knew Aldrich would be humiliated by what was happening. Being mocked like this would be such a blow to his pride he’d rather fight to the death or find another world to flee to.

But Alvin found he didn’t care so much. They were trying to take everything Aldrich owned, his home, his wealth, and his noble pride. But to Alvin, they weren’t his things. They were Aldrich’s. To him, it meant little more than watching someone else lose their belongings. It was unfortunate, to be sure.

But Aldrich had just stolen his entire life from him. It had been a shitty life, but it had been his. Even now, Aldrich hadn’t lost as much as Alvin had.

“Is all this humiliation truly necessary?” Lady Mabel asked the knight, egging on the crowd of soldiers.

“It’s your father’s orders. It’s how he conquered Baron Stillwater,” the knight replied. “Your father’s in the manor now, waiting for you. As soon as you get the prisoner taken care of, you should go see him.”

The soldiers continued jeering, but Alvin just rolled his eyes and shouted back.

“Are we sure your mother was really a lord?” One soldier shouted. “Maybe she was just a common whore!”

“And maybe your mother was a goat who fucked a squirrel!” Alvin shouted back. “You’ve got the teeth for it.”

The soldier looked taken aback that the lord they were mocking would mock them in return.

“And you!” Alvin turned to look at a man about to throw a tomato. “Look at that fruit in your hands, and then look at the hungry orphans behind you. You were going to waste a perfectly good fruit on my face. Orphans, if you’re hungry tonight, watch that man’s face so you have someone to remember when you curse.”

The man put down the tomato, looking sheepish as he tossed it to the ground. Alvin wasn’t sure if the dirty children behind the soldier were really orphans or just dirty kids who’d been playing in the mud, but the soldier seemed to believe him.

“You came to East Water with swords in hand!” Alvin shouted. “Look around at the men and women who live here. Would whatever gods you follow approve when they saw this day marked in your souls?”

The shouting and jeering turned quiet, and the laughter stopped.

“You still lost to Lady Mabel,” the knight leading the procession said. “You’re a defeated lord with no power left, so you must make a plea to the gods.”

He tried to spit on Alvin, but he missed and only hit the horse he was riding.

“You’re a knight, aren’t you?” Alvin asked him.

“Born and raised from a long line of knights stretching back ten generations,” the knight replied.

Alvin gestured all around him with his bound wrists. “Then let this be a lesson to you, Sir Knight. All it takes is one bad day to lose it all.”

The knight went silent as well, and the rest of the procession proceeded in silence. Lady Mabel took Alvin to his room in the manor. Alvin was pleased to find he wasn’t being escorted to the dungeon.

“I will have your oath of parole,” Lady Mabel demanded. “Swear that you won’t try to escape, and you will have your usual quarters and servants. If you don’t swear, I’ll have to lock you away with the common criminals.”

“I swear not to escape,” Alvin said. Even as a prisoner, he’d probably live better here than he would have on the run. He’d just be without his freedom to roam the town.

Lady Mabel locked his door behind him after cutting the ropes around his wrists and ankles. She placed a pair of guards on his door and told them he could ask them for anything he needed, but he was to remain where he was.

His room was exactly as he’d left it, though a bit messier from the night before. He sat on the side of his bed to catch his breath and consider what had happened to him.

He’d been well and truly tricked. Aldrich knew his life was about to go to hell, so he handed it all off to Alvin so he wouldn’t have to deal with it.

Now, Alvin was stuck in a body that was being held prisoner and headed for an unknown fate depending on the whims of the count who’d just conquered his lands.

What was he supposed to do now?

Alvin drummed his fingers against his thigh. He was still exhausted. He couldn’t leave this room physically, but he could do whatever he wanted with magic.

And so he closed his eyes and flopped over onto his side, leaning inward to the bed.

“Hi Alvin,” a cheery voice greeted him.

His eyes snapped open to find that same beautiful woman from before.

Clover lay on her side in his bed, her forehead so close it was nearly pressed against his. She was just as naked as before, and she stared straight into his eyes.

He met her gaze in return as his head pulled back. They were pure lakes of emerald, and the whites around them were flawless plain sheets. They looked too perfect to belong to any natural human.

She yawned and sat up in bed, just as he did.

“You had fun last night, and you didn’t invite me,” Clover pouted.

Alvin climbed to his feet to put some distance between him and Clover.

“Sorry about that. But you ran off so quickly I wasn’t able to ask you how to contact you,” Alvin replied.

“Oh, that,” she waved her hand. “Just say my name near a plant or something! I’ll get a few flowers growing in your room. It seems like you’re going to be here a while, but I can think of a few ways to pass the time...” Her hand crawled up Alvin’s chest, and he was once again reminded of the fact that she was completely naked.

“Why are you so interested in me?” Alvin asked.

“For the same reason, I was interested in Aldrich. I made a promise to your soul the last time it was whole,” Clover said, running her fingers up and down his chest. She tugged at Alvin’s shirt and, with one swift motion, pulled it up over his head.

“My soul?”

“Yes, silly. The last time you were here, you lived in this world. When you met me then, I was just a tiny baby spirit. We had a lot of fun together, but then you died...” Clover pouted. “Don’t worry, though. This time, I’m much more powerful. I can definitely keep you alive. And more than that, I can keep you ready to have some fun...”

She leaned close, breathing into his ear. Her hand went to his crotch, and her fingers felt hot to the touch. Almost instantly, his manhood sprung to life at supernatural speed. It felt so hard that his pants began to tear around his groin. He’d ever been so aroused in his life.

Even greater than the physical reaction was the emotional one. Every thought except for those of sex left his mind. He wanted to throw Clover down against the bed, pin her arms to the mattress, and take her like a beast in heat. He wanted to rut with her like a pair of wild rabbits and then, when he was finished, do it all again.

The feeling was growing stronger as whatever Clover was doing grew in ever greater strength. Before much longer, he’d lose control over his own body.

Alvin reached down with the last of his self-control and grabbed Clover’s wrist with his own. He pried her hand off of him.

“Don’t do that again,” Alvin warned, eyes stern.

Clover pouted, cheeks puffy with air. “Aww... but I’ve waited so long! It’s been like a thousand years...”

Alvin had been both frightened and excited by what had just taken place. On the one hand, his body’s natural urges had been manipulated by a single touch from the woman before him. She had powers he didn’t understand, and who knew what she could do? Even now, he could feel the hormones in his head pounding against the inside of his skull and proving to be a constant distraction.

But on the other hand, she’d just used magic. Real magic. That was the kind of power that could get him out of this prison cell. The ability to alter the mind even slightly would be immensely powerful. If it could be used for more than sex, Alvin could imagine securing a quiet little villa for himself. He might never be a baron again, but with magic applied to the right minds, he could secure a comfortable life right here in this body.

But all that hinged on the woman in front of him. He needed to know who she really was, why, and her reasons for helping him.

“I told you, silly. You were my master a thousand years ago. Or at least the biggest part of him I could find. I used to follow that Aldrich around because he had a bit of you as well, but compared to his soul, yours is much bigger,” Clover’s eyes turned to Alvin’s crotch, making it unclear if she was only talking about Alvin’s soul.

“And you’ve waited a thousand years to meet me again. Okay. Now, what exactly are you?” Alvin asked.

“A dryad, silly! A demon of vitality and nature. Well, I’m a dryad. The body I’m wearing belongs to some village herbalist girl. Aldrich wouldn’t talk to me in his dreams, so I made a deal with this girl in his village! I helped her soul not get eaten by some lesser demons she angered, and I got her body after! Pretty nice of me, right?”

“Right...” Alvin didn’t like the sound of someone having their soul eaten by demons. Nor did he like the fact that the dryad in front of him had just admitted she was wearing the body she had on like she’d bought someone’s old coat from a tailor. Was this what Aldrich’s books meant about being possessed by a demon?

“Anyway, this body is mine now. I got it so we could have sex again, just like we used to! Yay!” Clover wrapped her arms around Alvin’s shoulders.

Her perky breasts pressed against his chest. They were only of average size, but they had a certain sculpted feel to them, as though they’d been the product of hours of hard work. Like their owner had thought long and hard about how they would feel pressed up against his chest, just as they were now. Perhaps this demon had done just that.

Even if Alvin hadn’t just been injected with the lust of a thousand men, he would have found the woman in his arms hard to resist. Now that he had, only the knowledge that the lust wasn’t entirely his own kept him from pouncing on the willing, desperate woman before him. That, and the eagerness to hear the answer to one question in particular.

“Clover, I need to know something. This is important, so make sure you think about the answer.”

“Yes, master! I’m just so glad you’re back!” She buried her face in his chest.

“Can you teach me magic?”

“Yep!”

Note:

Alright, so I’m still playing with Clover a bit more. I’m still refining her personality, so she’s bounced around a bit.

Originally, she was mostly a very forward human girl but pretty knowledgeable about the world.

Now I’m thinking maybe I’ll make her a bit airheaded. Or maybe just distant and inhuman. Like, maybe she doesn’t really understand human concepts and why people make weird decisions.

I’ve shifted her backstory around accordingly. Don’t worry. If this ends up becoming a novel, I’ll make everything consistent in the next draft.

Also, I plan to have her hate wearing clothes and call Alvin Master. For... uh... reasons.

Anyway, leave any comments if you have thoughts on Clover and her potential personality/backstory.

Unlike most of my work which gets a huge amount of work done ahead of time in outlining, world-building, and advanced chapters, this story is being written as I post it with no more than a single page of notes and planning, so your comments have much more of an impact on what happens next than in my other work.

I’m also much more willing to change stuff around even if it breaks continuity a little because this isn’t ever going to be published without serious rewrites anyway.