Knight & Lady, Part 2 (MtF, FtM TG Preg)

By FoxFaceStories

A Commission for Al

Within the fantastical world of Vortis, there is no greater hero than Sir Marcus. He has earned the hand of his love, the beautiful Lady Astrid, and all should be well. But when a horrid curse prevents them from conceiving, the pair must leave on one final adventure: to an ancient well that may grant their wish to bear children. But when the wish is made, who shall be the father, and who the mother? Soon the pair must reorient themselves as their bodies switch genders and roles, all while their wish’s desire beckons.

First Part

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Chapter 2: The Wish

The married pair set out a week later, the first stages of their travels carefully planned and well-stocked, the later stages far more up to chance. They travelled by carriage initially - this was what Astrid was used to - but after they left Vortis, and then the neighbouring kingdoms of Talleth and Lormere, the rolling plains and hills and cities gave way to rugged mountain territory. Here they switched to horseback, with as much as they needed packed between them. 

It was quite the awakening for Astrid. Apart from that time when she was kidnapped by Atarax, she had never been out in the wilderness like this. Now she was actually camping. For all her fortitude and sly humour, Marcus was the one now finding good humour in the situation. She had chipped two nails already, gotten her hair tangled in bushes, and was struggling to sleep thanks to all the bloody crickets. And this was not to mention the situation of a latrine!

“When we make this wish and I fall pregnant at last,” she declared, jabbing a playful finger in his chest, “you will treat me like a queen.”

“You are always a queen in my eyes,” he said, grinning.

“Oh, you make it so hard to be angry with you! I swear, I should have chosen a worse husband!”

When they finally reached the sea, she was more than glad to rest upon the ship that took them across the Jade Sea. The emerald waters were beautiful . . . until the tide turned, and she began to get the seasickness. Marcus did his best to comfort her.

“Think of it as practice for the morning sickness?” he suggested.

She shot him a look that would wither the greatest knight. 

“Ah, well, you are the well-spoken one of us, so I’ll just be silent now,” he said.

“Please do,” she said.

She was happy to get her feet back on land, as was Marcus. Their horses now took them through foreign lands, and there was more than a few clashes, moments of dread when Marcus was able to use his knightly prowess to keep them safe from predators and monsters. And yet, to their shared surprise, Astrid was able to pull her own weight. She was no fighter, but she was a noblewoman, possessed of regal bearing and diplomatic brilliance. When they were surrounded by bandits in numbers that not even Marcus could face off against, she simply . . . hired them. After all, why risk the death of a few when the kingdom of Vortis could send forth a few reserves of gold from the house of Levian?

And so the pair travelled forth, moving beyond the coastal cities of the Jade Sea and even the Zakarian Desert beyond their verdant lands. They entered regions untravelled by anyone from Vortis for centuries, and then . . . they went beyond even that. This was no mere few weeks of travelling: this was a months-long journey during which danger lurked. It would be impossible to recount all that the loving pair faced. Marcus faced off against the dread scaled beast of Mythar, and had to shield Astrid during a lightning storm, during which strange golems shifted and moved around them. Astrid had to tend to her husband when he contracted the blindsight sickness, and began feverishly muttering about horrors that existed only in his mind. Her hands gained calluses they’d never possessed, and she was able to cook camp meals and grow used to sleeping beneath the stars. The pair lent on each other during hard times, and talked often of their hope for children, and defeating Atarax’s curse.

They travelled to lands beyond known understanding or maps, and then they travelled to lands beyond those lands beyond.

Great mushroom forests whose canopies eclipsed the sky.

Starlit coves where great beasts lurked in wait of prey, their lures like beautiful men and women singing enticing songs.

Endless plains occupied by grass-eating beasts the size of small mountains.

Volcanic fields that burned, impossibly, with a dreadful cold, the lava a bright liquid blue that sucked away all heat.

The pair pushed through these, even as Astrid feared for the worst. She had learned to lean on the strength of her knightley husband, just as he had often leaned on her in court matters, having grown up without any nobility to his name but for what he earned in his duties.

“I feel so hopeless sometimes,” the beautiful redhead admitted. “Like I am just dragging you down and becoming some sort of princess in distress once more.”

“Nonsense! For one, you’re not a princess.”

She punched him lightly on the arm, grinning in response. “Ah, but you once said I am always your queen.”

“Exactly, my love. And I will always protect my queen, and never take her for granted. Besides, you have done far better than I imagined on this journey.”

“Better than you imagined?” she said. “Oh, you expected me to fail?”

“Well, there was that incident with the big killer minotaur creature.”

“Anyone would have screamed!”

“Yes, but it sort of did alert it to our position.”

She sighed. “I guess I’m just not cut out for adventuring. I’m a woman of the court, Marcus. I suppose being a stalwart knight is purely your job. My handsome man.”

“Well, having a beautiful woman to warm my bed at night, even beneath the stars, has made this journey easier.”

They briefly drew their horses closer, just so the pair could share a loving kiss. But that was when Astrid suddenly paused. They had been going across an expanse of salt flats for days now, worrying they were off course, their supplies getting low enough that they’d have to turn back soon. But now something caught her interest. 

“My love, is that another mirage, or do I see a forest on the horizon?”

Marcus looked in the direction his wife was pointing, and then he gasped himself. “By all the Gods, I see it as well. If it’s an illusion, it must be a magical one. But if ever something looked like an ancient and eternal glade, that would be it. Come!”

They raced their horses across the flats, drawing closer to the site. It really did feel like it was at the end of the world: the flats extended seemingly forever, but now, at the end of all things, was a great garden with trees that were immense and literally sparkling in their beauty. Golden dust seemed to fall from nowhere, the weather perfect, the air temperate despite the heat outside. Enormous fruit of unknown origin and type grew from the plants all around them, and they quickly refreshed themselves and their supplies, finding the food to be wonderfully succulent and sweet. 

“This truly is a magical place,” Astris said. “The well must be here. It must.”

They took a brief respite to take in the serenity and peace of this arcane setting, but Astrid was eager, even more so than Marcus. He was used to waiting before a big battle, or needing to rest before a major moment, but he couldn’t pull back his wife, whose desperation to fall pregnant was now becoming positively manic.

“If the wish works, we could well conceive a child right here!” she exclaimed, tying her horse and striding forth into the unknown. 

“Honey, it’s a long journey back, and-”

“I know, I know! But we know the way now, and made friends . . . and hired bandits. But think, my love, we could choose not to waste a single second. How many weeks and months and years has Atarax stolen from us? I am nearly thirty years old. We have tried for over four years to make a child, and we wish for more than just one.” She hugged her lover, placing her head against his powerful chest. He wore not armour, but an outfit of leather with very light padding. It was comfortable for her to rest against, and intimate too.

“I want to bear your children, my love. Please, can we not waste a second? Can we at least search right now?”

Marcus sighed. “Of course, Astrid. I would pause the moon for you, if you wished to see its beauty a second longer.”

She laughed. “Oh, you would never knew you grew up a peasant boy, I swear! Come!”

They searched, and to their immense joy - especially Astrid’s - it did not, in fact, take long to find what they were looking for. In the centre of this great garden was a clearing where the grass was so fresh and beautiful that it almost looked unreal. An ancient well, its stone work almost marble-like in its whiteness, sat there, a rope somehow unfrayed or aged, like the well was awaiting to be drawn from and given to. The pair exchanged a look. Wordlessly, they stepped forward, Marcus wary of traps, of which there were thankfully none. Astrid jumped when, to her shock, a voice echoed out, serene and female and entrancing.

‘You have come to entreat me. I will grant but one wish, joined by the union of two hearts holding a single desire.’

“W-we do,” Astrid said, straightening her clothing. She wore a light travelling dress that was light blue in colour, and she adopted her best diplomatic stance. “We have travelled so very far, ancient one. We have brought a coin from our realm, as the legends say, to beg you to consider our wish.”

The trees rustled in the wind, an ethereal presence seeming to float and hover invisibly all around them.

‘Yes, I judge your hearts to be pure. You may each step forward to my well. Do not desecrate it, and treat it with respect. Hold one another’s hand, and choose one to place the coin within the well.’

Marcus passed the coin to Astrid. While the curse had rendered him sterile, it was Astrid’s own barrenness that truly tore at his wife, in a way his own sterility could not hurt him, at least not to such a degree.

“You make the wish, my love,” he whispered to her, kissing her lightly on the cheek. 

Astrid had to blink back a single tear.

‘Make the wish,’ the entity of the glade spoke in its calming voice. ‘Then cast forth the coin.’

Astrid had thought long and hard about this, and reached a decision on the words to say. She held her hand out, the coin within her delicate fingers.

“I wish that the dragon Atarax’s dying curse upon my husband and myself be broken, that we may have children together, and safely and easily at that.”

She dropped the coin. It seemed to fall forever, until the bottom of the well glowed with a brilliant light, illuminating thousands of other coins. The entity chuckled softly.

“A clever wish, with more provisions than perhaps usual . . .”

Astrid tightened his grip on Marcus’ hand, and he did his best to calm her.

“. . . but the wish is accepted.”

They both breathed easy.

“Thank you,” Astrid whispered.

“There is but one complication. A Dragon’s Dying Curse is a powerful magic. To overcome this barrier, your forms may need to change, adapting to become virile and fertile once more. This may be unpredictable, but your own heart’s desires will define the results. Do you accept this condition?”

Astrid squeezed Marcus’ hand.

“Honey,” the knight said. “You should know I have experience with this sort of thing. Curses, wishes, enchantments . . . they don’t always go how you imagine.”

“I know, beloved, but this is our only chance. We’ve travelled so far . . .”

She bit her lip demurely, like the beautiful young noblewoman she was. “I leave the decision with you, my knight. I trust you more in this matter.”

Marcus thought long and deep. He was still hesitant, but the longing look in his wife’s gorgeous green eyes made the decision for him. And in truth, though his wife’s desire for a child exceeded his own, he too wanted sons and daughters to raise happily with her, and fill their house with the sound of laughter. He gazed up towards where he imagined the invisible guardian of the well to be.

“We accept this condition,” he announced, his baritone voice confident now that he’d reached his decision.

The well glowed even more powerfully, and to their shared astonishment a series of tendrils of golden light emerged from its abyss, coiling around the pair, binding them together. Marcus and Astrid marvelled, their essences lighting up as they were infused with the light. It was impossible to describe, but it was like being touched by the heavens themselves. Astrid felt something inside her shift, as if her very being was being re-oriented and redirected towards some new and glorious purpose. Marcus felt the same, and the two held hands as the light passed over them and through them, until finally it retreated away and dimmed into silence.

“It is done,” the voice said, “though the changes themselves will take time to manifest. Be on your way, good travellers, and remain pure of heart. Be fruitful and loving, and by the time you return home, the first of your future children will already be on their way.”

Astris and Marcus gaped, unable to believe the words they were hearing.

“It - it worked!” Astrid announced.

“Time will tell,” Marcus said, a little cautiously.

But Astrid was already holding her lover, kissing him tenderly.

“Then let us return to camp and celebrate our hopes, dear husband. And if your seed does not take this time, then we can just try, try, and try again on the long journey home!”

Marcus smirked at this, drawing his wife closer to him.

“Well, I certainly won’t complain about that.”

They retreated from the well, giving into their passions, which had always been frequent and loving and lustful, though the energy Astrid especially brought now was greater than it had been in years, much to Marcus’ delight. Little did they know that the magic already beginning to slowly change them would go a lot further than they imagined, all to overcome the dragon’s curse. After all, Marcus’ sterility was insurmountable, and Astrid’s fertility likewise.

 But no one had said who had to be the mother, and who had to be the father . . .

To Be Continued . . .