Little King (13)

Celine couldn’t believe her luck, as she eyed her prize. It was just within reach, but she had to be careful: she didn’t know who else would have spotted it. She didn’t want it to turn into a fight. At just over 4-feet tall and on the skinnier side, the 10-year-old couldn’t hold her own against some of the desperate adults on the streets, but what she lacked in size, she made up for in her keen eye and her wits.

She pushed off the wall, slowly leaving the alley that she had been standing in, out of the way of the chilling wind. She was dressed in as warm clothing as she owned, which was little more than a tattered frock and an oversized coat that she had been given from Miss Rebecca for her efforts. Her long, messy blonde hair was tied in a dirty briad and tucked into her jacket, but a few stray locks still fell around her angular cheeks.

The snow crunched beneath her poorly wrapped up feet. The old leather pieces that she had tied around her sole to protect her from the cold did little more than stop her toes from falling off. But she had grown accustomed to the pain, and didn’t let it affect her stride as she walked out onto the cobblestone road.

The path had been built wide enough for a carriage to ascend the hill to the castle, but the houses had been built around it, with extensions leaning over the path, and even covering it like a tunnel in some places. She carefully hopped from stone to stone, glancing out of the corners of her eyes to make sure that no one was following her.

Celine’s prize was almost dead center in the middle of the path, and she was amazed that nothing had trodden on it already. As she neared it, she was about to bend down, to reach her shivering fingers towards it, when a man on the other side of the path caught her eye. He was staring directly at her, as if waiting to see what she would do next.

Celine panicked, certain that he would steal her prize, and she took her eyes off of the tiny creature.

CRUNCH.

Celine shuddered as she felt her prize squish under her left foot: she had taken a step too far. Her shoulders dropped and she paused for a moment in the middle of the road. She cursed the man for distracting her, and raised continued to cross the cobblestones.

But with her next step, she stopped, as felt a similar crunch, as if she was treading on something all over again. She glanced behind her, and was shocked to see no blood, no gore, and no trace of the tiny man that she was sure she had squished only moments ago. Celine raised her left foot and tilted her sole up behind her, and her eyes widened with joyous surprise as she saw the mangled, but somehow intact form of a tiny man on her sole. She reached behind her and scooped him into her hand. Then, without missing a beat, she finished crossing the street and started up the hill towards Miss Rebecca’s brothel.

***

Elenor was at the bottom of a spiral staircase made entirely of wood. The narrow cylinder of space that she occupied was almost completely invisible from the outside world. It rose several stores along the inside of one corner of the castle, and was only known to a precious few people.

Elenor had been shown of its existence as a girl, playing in the castle with Harold’s eldest sister. A shame that the woman had not been able to forget where the entrance was, the Queen thought, as she recalled the tragic accident that befell her sister-in-law, all those years ago. She pushed the thought out of her mind in a heartbeat, and began to climb the steps, the furs dragging behind her as she walked higher and higher.

The space was almost completely black, with the only light coming from high above. She was taking no chances with candles on the wooden steps, or near the door. After a minute, she reached the top, as the confined cylinder opened out into an oddly slanted room. It was built into the castle in such a way that it could have been forgotten all together.

This had been the purpose of the safespace, a room for the king to escape into should the castle be overrun. But Harold didn’t even know that it was there, this information having been lost with time, and a secret that Elenor guarded dearly. On the stone floor of the secret room, were three wooden tables, tucked against the walls of the room. Candles lit the space from perches on the walls, casting a mysterious glow around the room. Needless to say, there were no windows at all.

‘Y… your Highness, I wasn’t expecting a visit. I haven’t cleaned up after my…’ groveled a frail looking human, who Elenor silenced with a hand.

‘Enough Hamel,’ she hissed, ‘Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.’

She frowned at the bucket on the one corner of the room, and the dirty bowls beside it. She didn’t have to imagine a great deal to feel sick at the thought that this creature was filling and emptying his body within a few inches of each other. His lack of self-care certainly showed in his stooped posture and mortality emaciated body. Even his hair was patchy and thin, a consequence of spending his life in the secret space.

Elenor dispelled any pity for the man, thinking how fortunate he was to benefit from the heat from her bedchamber, and to have both food and working privy. Hamel had been put into his current job role almost 10 years ago, and here he was, a creature of the darkness. Elenor wondered how he would face the sun again, if he ever did.

‘Do you have news?’ she demanded.

‘Well …’ Hamel stammered, ‘It is as before, your Highness. I have tested it on animals, but … to do what you ask … I need to test it on a human.’

‘And you are certain that it will make them invulnerable, as well?’ Elenor asked, plainly.

‘It … well … well it should,’ Hamel muttered, nervously, ‘I can’t say until I have tested it on a human.’

Elenor gracefully stepped into the space, wrinkling her nose at the stench of the man. She eyed the central desk, which was less cluttered with papers and vials and elixirs, which wasn’t saying much given the state of the room. Before her was a rack with three vials of dark, purple liquid.

‘Only three?’ she asked.

‘Well … I …. I didn’t want to make more, in case … but it won’t fail but …’ the man mumbled.

‘Hamel, let me ask you a question. Do you believe that you are capable of getting this right?’ Elenor asked, her stare as icy as the winter outside.

‘Of course, your Highness,’ the man replied, bowing low but speaking with feigned confidence for the first time. He wasn’t a proud man, but he knew that there wasn’t a problem that he could not solve, given enough time.

‘Then, you have nothing to worry about,’ Elenor sang.

Hamel smiled, an ugly, toothy grin at the floor, his head remaining bowed. He liked it when the beautiful Queen was nice to him. He knew that it would never happen, but he dreamed that one day he would feel her hand on him, just a touch, just to know that it was real, that he was real, and known to such a radiant being. He was still lost in these pleasant daydreams when he felt a wetness drip onto his scalp, splashing over his head and onto his shoulders.

***

Celine arrived at the two storey building within a few minutes, her prize tucked into the folds of her coat. She climbed the few steps to the door and knocked three times. The door was opened by a slave girl, who recognized the 10-year-old and let her through.

She stomped up the steps to the second floor and into a waiting bedroom, where an older  woman sat. Unlike Celine, she was dressed in nice, new clothing. A tight, scarlet corset was wrapped around her abdomen, and while she wasn’t a small lady by any means, the enormous breasts that sat atop the cups of the garment made even her waist look slim. Beneath the device a skirt ballooned out, hiding her impressively curvy hips.

‘What is the meaning of this child? Why have you come to me so soon after your last drop off?’ Rebecca asked, ‘You had better not be here asking for more money.’

‘No, Miss Rebecca,’ Celine shook her head, enjoying the warmth of the house. She reached into her coat and pulled out what she had collected and held it out, palm open for the 40-something year old mistress to see. And indeed, the busty red-headed woman looked on it with hungry eyes.

Rhancar awoke on a softer plane than the stones on which he had landed, and in a significantly warmer place. As his eyes came into focus, he sat up and started to back away from an immense woman looking down at him. Her plump face was freckled and feminine, with the slightest touch of makeup adding to the allure. If that failed, the two planet sized tits that jutted out over her sternum would doubtless ensnare any man that laid eyes on her.

She was staring at him with a frightening excitement, ‘You brought me another one? So soon?’

The voice was high and sweet, but carried an air of authority that made his spine stiffen. He realized that he was currently in the hands of another giantess, but he was so absorbed by the red-head that he didn’t take his eyes off of her.

‘Not just another one,’ the girl holding him replied, ‘He’s special.’

‘How do you mean?’ Rebecca asked.

‘I’ll show you,’ Celine replied, smiling. And with that, she tipped her hand and dropped the tiny man, making Miss Rebecca gasp in shock at the thought of damaging her soon-to-be newest product. But before she could catch him, Rhancar crashed onto the wooden floorboard, landing in a heap. Rebecca was stunned, but from what she could see, the little man appeared to be unharmed, and even moving. Before she could bend down to pick him up however, the 10-year-old raised her foot, and brought it down firmly on top of Rhancar.

‘What are you doing?! You stupid girl!’ Rebecca yelled, slapped Celine clean across the face with the back of her hand and sending the girl crashing onto the floor. The woman stood up in a violent rage, and glared down at the girl’s feet, where her would-be prize had vanished. But then she stopped. The man had been flattened, yet somehow, he was still alive. Not only that, but Rebecca forgot about Celine’s existence entirely when the man, who she had just witnessed getting crushed, started to move and writhe in pain.

‘My goodness, girl, what have you brought me?’ Rebecca asked, ignoring the blow she had just landed on Celine, who was tearing up in confusion. She had thought that she was doing a really good thing, and had been punished for her eagerness. She swallowed the pain fo teh sting in her cheek and got to her feet.

‘I have only heard rumour of these creatures, who can survive the extremes of force,’ Rebecca went on, ‘And you brought one right to me. Do you know what this means?’

Her excitement was starting to raise Celine’s spirits, as she started to lose the memory of the slap, as the woman continued, ‘Mine will be the greatest house of pleasure in the kingdom! It will be a place of legend, and all because of you, little girl.’

‘I promise, that you will never go hungry again,’ Rebecca went on, bending down to snatch up the tiny man. Her warm fingers pinched him delicately off the ground and raised him to her face, ‘And such a young, muscular thing, if you account for his stature of course. And his dark skin will simply glimmer when we oil him up.’

‘Girl, I will afford you a bed here for as long as you still breathe, for bringing me this prize,’ Rebecca beamed.

‘Oh, thank you, Miss Rebecca,’ Celine squealed, grinning from ear to ear at such an unexpectedly amazing reward. She admired the woman so much, and she was like a mother to her. The 10-year-old’s eyes were fixed on the mistress of the house, but her’s were interested only in the tiny man between her fingers, and all the things that her girls could do with him.