Grier the Sire

"So the Dane returned for his whore, did he?" he said. He gripped her throat at her silk choker and began to throttle her. Mildrith's hands grabbed Burke's wrists, attempting to free herself, but she rapidly began to weaken with lack of air. Her face turned red and began to take on a purplish tinge. Her tongue came out of her mouth and a gargling sound issued forth. Burke put the flat of his sword between her legs and she felt the cold steel on her crotch.

"Watch my men beat down your Dane," Burke crowed. "While you gasp and struggle for breath like a fish on a hook."

Grier could see what Burke was doing to Mildrith out of the corner of his eye, but forced himself to ignore her travails and focus on his own perilous situation. The two men-at-arms split up and approached him from different directions.

Edwina cracked open the connecting door to her maid's chamber. She could see that Grier, still weak from his wound, was in grave peril. Her mistress's situation was worse, for Burke had little experience. It looked like he would strangle her by mistake, even if he did not intend to do so. She crept forward and picked up her mistress's scissors from her bureau top. Holding the sharp end like a dagger, she slid forward toward Burke's legs on her stomach. Raising the scissors, she struck Burke's unprotected calf with all her might. The scissors went in deep and a fountain of blood spurted out. Burke screamed, released Mildrith and dropped his sword. He grabbed his wounded calf and collapsed to the ground, moaning and rocking himself.

Mildrith coughed harshly as she drew deep breaths into her tortured lungs. Her breasts jounced under her red underbodice. Burke's fingers had left red marks on her white throat that would flower into colorful bruises. She saw Grier was being backed into a corner by the two men-at-arms. However, Burke's screams gave them pause and one of them looked over his shoulder to see what had happened. Grier took advantage of his inattention to thrust hard and run him through. He strove to withdraw his blade and did so just before the second man-at-arms recovered his poise and renewed his attack.

Mildrith picked up Burke's sword and staggered to her feet. It was heavy for her, but she managed to prepare the blade as she approached the other man-at-arms from the rear. He sensed her approach and ceased his attack on Grier, to address the new threat. He made a quick move to knock Mildrith's blade aside and returned to face Grier again. Grier was well below his best, and the man-at-arms was able to deflect his weakened thrust without difficulty. Mildrith prepared her blade again and he repeated his effort, knocking it aside.

They kept it up for several moves, before Grier engaged him long enough to give Mildrith enough time to stab him in the small of the back with the point of Burke's sword. He grunted with pain and staggered. It was a grievous wound, but not enough to kill him. Grier slashed at him and finished him off.

Mildrith took the few steps to Grier and put her arms around him, rubbing her breasts against him and purring. He put his face in her thick red hair. They just held each other, both holding swords dripping blood. Burke remained on the ground, holding his wounded calf and blubbering. Edwina stayed close by Burke, the scissors raised and prepared to stab him again.

There were steps outside and a rapping at the bedchamber door.

"My lord Burke," came the voice of one of the Tunbridge gentlemen. "Is everything all right?

Grier gently disengaged himself from Mildrith, came up to Burke and placed the point of his sword on Burke's chest.

"Say you're fine, that you stubbed your toe," he hissed. "Say anything else and you are dead man."

The reality of the sword caused Burke to cease his blubbering. He cleared his throat. Mildrith and Edwina held their breaths.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," said Burke, his voice a bit higher pitched than normal. "I just stubbed my toe -- a beastly pain. Take your ease, I am sorry to disturb your night."

"Sorry to bother you, my lord," said the gentleman.

They all listened to the creaking of the stairs as Burke's gentleman made his way down again.

"Edwina, get some silk cords from your mistress's dressing gowns. And my dear Mildrith, hand me the panties that this animal tore off you."

Burke waited on the ground, while the women followed Grier's instructions.

"Open your mouth," Grier said to Burke. When he complied, he took the torn panties from Mildrith and stuffed them in Burke's mouth. He took a length of silken cord from Edwina, fashioned it into a gag and tied it tightly, forcing the panties to the back of Burke's mouth. It was rudimentary, but very effective.

"There, now you can taste your wife's sex," said Grier. "While I fuck her."

He used the other silk cords that Edwina brought him to tie Burke's wrists behind his back and his ankles. The tie on his ankles caused more blood to leak out of his wound and Burke whined through his gag, but he could produce very little sound. The three of them manhandled Burke into sitting position in a chair facing the bed.

"Now, my dear Mildrith," said Grier, taking her into his arms and kissing her. "We have the night in front of us."

"I am here as well, my lord Grier," said Edwina in a small voice. "I am also with child. And it is yours."

Grier put his arm around Edwina's waist and drew her into an embrace to form a threesome.

"You shall join us, Edwina," he said.

Mildrith looked over Grier's shoulder at Burke, who stared at them with hatred in his eyes.

"Grier, I am not sure about this," she whispered. "I cannot be intimate with you with Burke staring at us."

"Then I will force you," Grier whispered back. "I am a barbarous Dane, after all."

"You wouldn't!" she said. "Not after all that has transpired between us."

"We are punishing this animal, Mildrith, for what he did to you," said Grier. "If you do not see that now, you will in time."

Grier held her wrists tightly together. Edwina silently handed him another silken cord and he tied them together before lifting her and carrying her to the bed.

"No, Grier, NO!" protested Mildrith, unable to take her eyes off Burke's malevolent gaze.

Grier did not listen, but tied the ends of the cord to the headboard again. Tied down, he unfastened her underbodice and released her magnificent breasts, now slightly fuller with her pregnancy. He ran his thumbs over her nipples, murmuring, "Soon, so soon, your tits will be filled with milk."

He rucked up her skirts and petticoats and entered her doggie style, so that she and Burke could maintain eye contact. She cried out with his sudden invasion and he grunted in her ear, but loud enough for Burke to hear: "So tight, Mildrith! Your warm pussy is like a velvet vice on my cock."

"Your manhood is so big, my lord," put in Edwina, on her hands and knees on the bed. "You would stretch the pussy of any woman!'

Mildrith's mouth was open as she gasped, drawing great breaths into her lungs. Grier quickly ramped up his tempo, fucking her energetically. He was not sure which delighted him more: her rising excitement or Burke's impotent rage.

"See how your wife pants as I fuck her, Burke," said Grier. "While you sit there like a trussed goose, with her panties in your mouth. How does she taste?"

"No, Grier, please don't!" cried Mildrith, struggling against the silken cords that tied her down. "I cannot stand Burke looking at us like this!"

"You should have seen her when I took her virginity on her wedding night," said Grier to Burke, "When you ran away and abandoned her, dressed in her bridal white!"

As Mildrith struggled, her superb breasts rubbed against his arm, her hardened nipples scraping on his wrist. The ealdorman's son initially struggled against his bonds in his rage, but when he realized that it increased the blood flow from his stab wound, he desisted.

Grier ignored Mildrith's struggles and kept pushing into her slowly and deliberately, each thrust driving all of his considerable length into her, probing the depths of her pussy. She could not keep her eyes off Burke and kept begging him to stop. However, eventually, her entreaties tapered off and ceased -- it was unclear whether it was because she realized the futility of it or because she was growing so excited that she no longer wanted him to stop.

"See her cry out!" Grier said to Burke. "I'm in her so deep, I'm going to make her cum. You could never do that."

Grier felt the pain of his wound and some dizziness. He realized that he had overextended himself. He sped up his thrusting, drawing more urgent gasps from Mildrith. As soon as he felt her first contractions, he let go, spraying his ejaculate deep inside her. His body spasmed as he came, pounding his final few thrusts into her. He was gratified to feel her contractions grow stronger and she cried out her release, hips swiveling to get her pussy to milk his cock.

They lay together, Grier on top of Mildrith with her wrists still tied to the headboard of the bed. An hour passed and they slept, with Edwina cuddled against Grier's side. Burke's head's lolled over on to his shoulder as he too fell into a fitful slumber.

Burke was dreaming of a milkmaid that he had violently raped in the past year and her cries filled his head. Gradually he rose out of slumber to realize that the cries were very real. He looked over at the bed and saw Grier on his back. Edwina was mounted on him and rode him hard, skewering herself on his manhood. Grier moved minimally, allowing her to do most of the work. She was happy to do so and her loud cries were testament to her excitement. In spite of the chill night air, she was sweating profusely with her efforts, and silvery beads coursed down her face to drip on to Grier's chest. Eventually, she began to cum and she tried to muffle her final screams with a pillow. Grier came with her, his expression showing the effort of forcing out yet another load of jism in his weak state. In the afterglow, Edwina lay on Grier, their sweat soaked bodies slithering on each other.

Mildrith lay beside them. She was still tied down and hence unable to cover herself. Her underbodice was still unfastened and her skirts and petticoats rucked up to reveal her rounded rump and her obvious lack of panties. Her expression had changed: it was now hungry rather than embarrassed.

"You look like a sex kitten, Lady Mildrith," said Grier. "If I were not wounded and weak, I'd fuck you again right now. Just the way you look would have gotten me hard again. And you look like you want it -- I wish I could oblige you."

"Kiss me, Grier," she said.

He did oblige her with that, sliding out from under Edwina, who was still panting from her exertions.

"What shall we do with Burke?" he asked.

"It depends on whether you have come here prepared, or on a fool's errand," said Mildrith.

"I may be a fool, but I always come prepared," said Grier.

"If you have plans to take Newhaven Fort, pray set them in motion," she said. "And I shall kill this craven beast, and make myself a widow."

Burke's eyes went wide and he began to fight his bonds again, uttering whimpering sounds.

Grier and Mildrith rolled out of the bed. He went to the window and hooted three times like an owl. He waited till there were three hoots in response. He smiled as he saw dark silhouettes begin to appear over the tops of the stockade walls.

"Not long, now," he said to Mildrith and Edwina.

Mildrith picked up Burke's sword. She rested the point on his chest. His eyes took on a terrified expression and he began to strain at his bonds, regardless of the spreading blood from the wound at his ankle. Panicked, guttural sounds issued from his mouth around the gag. Mildrith could barely make out the word "Please!"

"You tortured me," she said to him. "With sex and with beatings. My body hurts all over. I could return the favor, and cut you to pieces, killing you slowly. But I am not so cruel."

The sounds issuing from his mouth grew even higher and more desperate. Mildrith let him go on for a couple of minutes, enjoying his cowardly distress. Then she put all her weight behind a thrust and drove his sword through his chest. Burke's eyes bugged out of his head as the sword went home, his mouth opened even wider around the gag and a guttural gargling sound emerged. Mildrith took a step back in horror.

"The death rattle," said Grier cheerfully, putting an arm around her waist. "A bit muffled by your panties in his mouth, but unmistakable."

All three of them went to the window, watching the Danish attack. There was some confused shouting in the darkness, but after the Tunbridge men on watch were dealt with, the rest of the sleeping defenders were mostly captured in short order. The Newhaven men wisely chose not to fight, while the few Tunbridge men that resisted were quickly dispatched. Denhaf, the shipmaster, knocked on the bedchamber door an hour later. He entered on Grier's command and found him in the large bed, with Mildrith and Edwina cuddling up to him on either side.

"We have taken the fort again, Grier," he said. "Sheriff Guy of Litchfield and his wife Ardith are among the prisoners." He stopped short when he saw Burke's body, still tied to the chair. "You killed Burke! Well, we're committed now. Ealdorman Hollis will never forgive us."

"We'll rest and recuperate for a week," said Grier. "Mostly on my account, to allow my wound to heal. That will also give Lady Mildrith time to raise some local levies. And Sheriff Guy of Litchfield may see the wisdom of joining forces with us."

"What do you want to do with that?" asked Denhaf, jerking his thumb in the direction of Burke's body.

"Put Burke's head in a basket and send it to Tunbridge Castle when we are ready to fight. Let's get Ealdorman Hollis upset. His father's grief will probably cause him to come tearing down to find us, with a revenge in his heart. An angry, inconsolable man is likely to make mistakes."

* * * *

9. Sheriff Guy of Litchfield was sufficiently impressed with the Danish warriors that he decided to ignore Ealdorman Hollis's summons and stay in his castle on the coast. As Grier predicted, the loss of his only son caused Hollis to go mad with rage and grief. He overruled Leofric, who counseled caution, and rushed to attack Newhaven Fort with the forces he had immediately at hand -- barely a score of knights with their pages and about a hundred men-at-arms.

They approached Newhaven Fort and Hollis immediately went on the attack rather than laying siege and forcing the Danes to come out and do battle in the open. Safe within the fort, the Danes had a two to one advantage in numbers and the English knights were of limited value when storming the fort. Grier directed the defense efficiently, focusing on wearing down the English numbers. After two assaults on the stockade walls were repulsed with heavy English losses, the Danes issued forth and fell upon the weary attackers, whose numbers were sorely depleted. It was a one sided battle and the English were massacred. Hollis was killed and Leofric was so badly wounded that he died the following day.

Leaving Denhaf in command of Newhaven Fort with a force of twenty warriors, Grier led the bulk of his forces to Tunbridge Castle along with Hollis's body. Seeing their Ealdorman dead with no heir, the remaining knights had no stomach for a fight. Grier held a parley and agreed to allow them all to retain their fiefs, rights and privileges as long as they acclaimed him ealdorman. They eventually agreed to do this.

Settled in Tunbridge Castle, Grier sent a mission to King Edward consisting of a mixed company of Danish warriors and English knights. He offered to bend the knee to the king, defend the realm against raiders and collect the king's taxes throughout Tunbridge. And he invited the king to his upcoming nuptials to Lady Mildrith, widow of the erstwhile heir to Tunbridge. That would unite Tunbridge and Newhaven, something the king had wanted for some time.

The king made Grier wait a month, but eventually sent a knight summoning him to London. Grier discussed it with Denhaf at great length -- his shipmaster counselled against it.

"Once you are in London, the king will have you in his power," he said. "He will hang you and place an English nobleman of his choosing in Tunbridge."

"He knows that we Danes are better fighters than his English," countered Grier. "We are offering him a Danish force to fight under his banner. It is to his advantage to accept me."

Denhaf would not be convinced.

"Well, I will leave you here in Tunbridge," said Grier. "If the king has me executed, you have the ships and the men -- they will follow you anywhere."

So Grier went to London. Mildrith insisted on accompanying his party along with a few gentlemen farmers from Newhaven, to show the king Grier's widespread English support. The king was hunting when they arrived and kept them waiting for half a day. But when he eventually granted them an audience, he was friendlier than they had expected.

"I have heard many tales of you, Grier the Ramrod," said King Edward. "An audacious and daring raider. Now you have killed Ealdorman Hollis and the fearsome Leofric in battle. A painful loss for England. I have no doubts as to your abilities. But convince me as to why I should depend on your loyalty."

"Your Majesty," said Grier. "I have grown tired of the life of a raider -- constantly on the move, rootless, homeless, unloved. I wish to settle down and now have the opportunity to do so with the lovely Lady Mildrith."

"She is lovely indeed," said the king, with a lingering look at Mildrith's breasts and especially the deep cleavage revealed by the plunging neckline of her gown. "You are to be envied."

He paused and glanced over at his Lord Chamberlain.

"My advisors are not keen on you, Grier the Ramrod. But I think you are a gamble worth taking. They tell me that Sheriff Guy of Litchfield has thrown his lot with you."

"Indeed, he has, Your Majesty. He visited Tunbridge Castle a fortnight ago with a large party. We have much in common, Sheriff Guy and I."

"So I hear," said the king. "Come walk with me, Grier. There are some things I would discuss with you privately."

"I am at Your Majesty's service," said Grier, bowing.

The king led the way through some French windows and on to a terrace. The evening air was growing chill and Grier found it bracing after the overheated reception room with its roaring fires.

"So tell me, Grier," said the king, leading the way to the terrace rail overlooking a verdant garden. "How was Lady Ardith? Did you have her again?"

"You are making me a gentleman, Sire," responded Grier in a low tone. "Surely you do not want me to begin in this estate by besmirching the honor of a lady?"

"You are not a gentleman yet," retorted the king." Grier the Ramrod does not care about any lady's honor, does he?"

"Perhaps not. But the Ramrod does not boast of his female conquests."

"Even when his king orders him to do so?"

Grier bowed his head.

"If you order me, I will confess to you that I did enjoy Lady Ardith's charms a fortnight ago."

"So you had sex with her," said the king, his voice growing thick. "Did you fuck her hard?"

"Yes, Sire."

"Many times?"

"Yes, Sire."

"Is she as frigid as she appears?"

"No, Sire."

"So there is fire under the ice. Did you make her cum? "

"Yes, Sire."

"Where was her husband?"

"Drunk, Sire," said Grier.

"I confess to lusting for Lady Ardith myself," said the king. "She's a handsome young woman, but what really gets me hard is her cold, arrogant air. Her family are among the oldest in England and she looks down her nose at everyone -- even me! So it would be particularly satisfying to put her on her back. And wipe that haughty look off her face with one's cock in her pussy."