Morgana's Handmaid and the Creature of the Dungeon Read online

  It was like they were in some kind of hurry! And no, it wasn’t like Bedemer had portrayed it where they’d have a nightly contest for the best-looking guy. Not this night anyway. They’d been reveling and enjoying themselves all day with the boys of the town; and, apparently, they’d come back from that holiday festival determined to run up a grand tally for the night!

  My God, thought I, this little tavern is starting to look like a brothel. I needed to intervene, and fast. The girls could not have realized the dire consequences facing them. They were pretty young ladies in their late teens with beautiful smiles and a sisterly spirit of competition. That was innocent enough at the outset—almost charming really. The problem was in what it must have looked like to the casual observer. The few decent folks in the tavern, I could readily see, did not approve.

  This was not the image I thought Bedemer’s more upstanding customers wanted to embrace; even though admittedly I appreciated the girls’ voraciousness. Besides that they had really good taste. Some of the boys they picked out were adorable! During it however I sat with Alguin and told him about what I was noticing. He picked up on it as quickly as I did. The whole situation looked so very sordid and unseemly to us—even if the girls themselves didn’t seem to notice or care.

  Therefore prior to meeting with Bedemer at his table after the kitchen was closed later that night, Alguin had me slip out for a while and get cleaned up. It was late already and by now most of the good paying customers were gone. All that was left were the lowlifes who had nowhere to go anyway and usually drank and caroused ’til Bedemer threw them out.

  I of course had a much nicer dress that I could change into back at the cart, which I’d made to sell in the market that day along with some sweaters and robes. So I went out back where Bedemer had told me the girls often bathed themselves in the mornings. It gave me some time to think up what I was going to say to them.

  Drawing water from the well, I quickly removed my clothing and poured some well water into a little trough that the girls had evidently been using for baths. I washed it out, and found some soap nearby that they’d set aside. It hadn’t been used in a while, and certainly not that day, I could tell! I had myself a bath in the darkness out back of the inn while I relaxed in the cool water and thought about my next move. My solitude was soon interrupted.

  Presently I was startled by a couple of drunks who came outside to relieve themselves in a ditch nearby. Noticing me bathing naked, they gasped with delighted surprise. I gave them a little wave from the bathtub and they soon staggered off to finish their business. However having emptied his bladder, the bolder of the two gents then weaved his way back toward my bathing trough stopping only a few paces away. As for me I sat with breasts bobbing up right below the surface. This I figured was one of the ne’er do-wells Bedemer had spoken of earlier.

  “Oye there, you the new girl?” he queried with a slur. I nodded and winked. “Sure,” I said in a husky voice. What harm can it do? I figured. He laughed and staggered back into the tavern with his drunken mate. Boy, was this going to be an interesting night, I could tell!

  There was a lot to consider. Both girls were adorably cute and very dainty in size, so I knew they’d better learn the ways of wooing a man to marry them if they knew what was good for them. Their reputation in the town was already questionable I could tell; so their best bet might be to entice some wealthy traveler or farmer from the hinterlands. If they stopped their promiscuous behavior, their looks alone might just snare a man like that. But what else might appeal to him?

  I soaped up some more and pondered my new challenge. Then it occurred to me. Part of the problem lay in their appearance as mere commoners. That simply wouldn’t do. I’d change things quickly by making them look like bona fide princesses! I splashed the bathwater triumphantly. “Yes!” I proclaimed, “That’s just how I’ll do it!”

  Once I’d bathed and gotten dressed, I looked like a beautiful woman once more, instead of a smelly old crow. Returning to the Inn with my long brunette hair wrapped up in a towel to dry it and otherwise looking like a very worldly lady in my fancy handmade dress, I suddenly found myself wading through a sea of lustful men grabbing at me and groping my bottom and breasts as I passed. Truly, the place had degenerated into exactly what it must have looked like to any discerning customer earlier that evening, a seedy brothel.

  Men embraced me around the waist and tried to fondle me as I made my way to Bedemer’s table. Several even lifted up my dress to peer at my bare legs! Of course I’d love to tell you how offended and disgusted I was with all this behavior, but, well…

  Truth be told, I simply loved the attention! And I could see that my Alguin, and our friend Bedemer, were quite royally enjoying watching me half-heartedly struggle through the groping hands and lustful mouths trying to kiss me or nuzzle their snouts into my ample cleavage. I have to admit I was having quite a time! I felt like I was back at Camelot during one of those massive feasts following a jousting tournament; with lustful drunken knights and squires grasping for me to come sit with them on their laps. Only this time there was no Morgana there to flash me the evil eye and admonish me later for not putting up more of a fight.

  Upon finally reaching Bedemer’s table, with still two more drunkards hanging off of me—one trying playfully to lift up my dress and the other attempting to grab hold of my breasts from behind my back—Bedemer took on a serious countenance and glared at the men still pursuing me. It froze them in their tracks. One even sheepishly handed me back my towel which had somehow come off of my head in the melee. I was by then snorting, laughing, and giggling like a teenager. It was so much fun to get fondled and be the center of attention in a room full of lustful men once again! But now it was back to business. I needed to get serious about Bedemer’s daughters.

  By then of course, the business deal had been concluded, and the agreement was reached that we—Alguin and me—would supply the ale for the inn, with Bedemer buying it from us exclusively. We would brew it there; and even better, I would come live at the Inn for a few months to mentor the girls on finding a proper husband! Alguin had explained it to Bedemer while I was out back bathing, and the big man very graciously agreed.

  In fact, upon seeing me all cleaned up and beautiful, as well as how the customers were responding to my voluptuous curves, Bedemer was more than convinced this could change everything. I was clearly the perfect woman to distract his customers’ amorous attentions from his girls at night, while Alguin would work nights in the castle, then return to the village in the morning to stay with us.

  I’d go home occasionally to tend our garden, and then I’d return to work. Moreover, we’d increase production on our fine ales several fold. We’d eat at the inn, and produce batches of beer for the customers. It was going to be so very exciting, I hoped!

  And it was. In this manner, Alguin and I filled up nearly the next two years of our social life, making dozens of brand new friends who fortunately knew better than to ask questions about our pasts. Nor did we ask them about theirs!

  Bedemer loved the new arrangement just as much as me. He had time to run his inn, while I could spend the afternoons getting the tavern ready along with educating the girls. He merely told them I was the wife of an old friend and I was coming on board to “help out” for a while.

  The girls, for their part, took to me rather quickly when they saw the cleaned off, beautified version of me that first night. For the whole first week in fact, I worked on getting made up like some noble lady one might see at Camelot. The girls took immediate notice! I could make beautiful dresses, so the very first thing I did to win them over was make them some new clothes. I brought back all my materials and cloth from our cottage on my next trip home; so when I wasn’t cleaning the inn, I was sewing pretty new outfits for them!

  My background as a handmaid had also taught me how to bathe and style a lady’s hair; so each evening I could make the girls look dazzling once they began to trust me. They smelled wonderful every n
ight too; because I bathed them with bath oils I’d learned to make from Morgana’s laboratory using chamomile. Yes, they warmed up to me quite quickly and soon our age difference meant very little to them. I was like that older sister they’d never had, who could impart wisdom to them at every turn; or that rich Aunt who’d show up once a year bearing dazzling gifts at Christmas time. My goal, I told them, was simple: “Learn to find a good prospect. Inspire the young man to court thee for marriage.”

  I assured them I could keep the really bad eggs off of them too! That became my main task most nights I can tell you, and when the girls began to appreciate my instincts for whom they should pay attention to and who to ignore, my entire night was consumed with shooing away the rest of the lustful wretches who otherwise had nothing to offer “my girls.”

  “Hold out for the good ones,” I told them. “Surrender nothing - make them work for it,” I said. “If ye believe yourselves to be good ladies then men will treat ye as such. If ye dress and look the part, they will believe as well. Protect thy virtue above all. Save thyself for thy future husband and no other.”

  My how I’d changed! There I was providing proper motherly guidance to those two youngsters, when only ten years before my good friend Ywedelle had been teaching me the exact opposite. Hold out? Make them work for it? Sure! Ywedelle certainly would advise the same. Yet ironically enough, the person I looked up to the most in my youth was someone I’d never hold out as an example to follow. Suddenly I found myself instructing two wild teenagers to do what she’d never done. I wasn’t going to tell them of my own rocky road to happiness either.

  But it didn’t matter, did it? The mistakes I’d made were of no consequence at that point. I knew I was right in what I was teaching them. They’d be able to see it in my eyes and that would simply have to be enough.

  The next task was to turn that filthy tavern into a fine establishment. The tavern was gloomy and musty-smelling inside. It was dirty, and had not only dust, but the smell of stale beer, and many other odors I probably didn’t want to know the origin of that reeked even worse. It had to be cleaned thoroughly. I put the girls to work right along with me, scouring it wall to wall; and in only a week or so of scrubbing and scraping and polishing, we turned things around. Never mind what it looked like when we started. That was a nightmare. Alguin’s torture chamber was only slightly less charming frankly, and it was better organized!

  We had so much to do; but we started with the floor, and took it from there. The results were amazing. Walls, ceiling, chandeliers, tables, stools, everything. If it couldn’t be cleaned we sanded it down and refinished it. If it couldn’t be refinished, we threw it out. Eventually the whole place was brighter and even looked newer.

  Next, we increased our prices; in an effort to send the message that we expected a higher-browed clientele in the future. Within a month, the inn started making more money. Then to get rid of the rougher, less well-behaved customers we began denying them credit; and that stirred up plenty of controversy let me tell you. If they didn’t pay their tab, they couldn’t come back, simple as that. If they argued, I’d tell them that was our new policy and whenever they could come up with the money to settle their bill they were of course welcome to return. Most never did; and sometimes it got quite ugly. In fact, if they argued too loudly, Bedemer himself would have to walk out from the kitchen and give them a stern look. Few caused us trouble after that.

  We began to work so well together! Bedemer cooked and the girls served the food. I focused my evening activities on greeting the guests at the tavern and warming them up to our establishment. I altered my dresses to better show off my cleavage and then tapered the cut of my dresses so that my voluptuous bottom was quite easy to distinguish under the material. I was able to acquire fine cloth to make light clingy dresses for me as well as for the girls and very soon we were drawing lots more attention than the fine tasting ales I brewed.

  But that wasn’t all you see? During those days of drudgery, cleaning and scrubbing and remodeling the interior, I kept on explaining to the girls what they desperately needed to know. “Young ladies, your beauty is but temporary,” I often said, “but with it you can achieve what all women dream of.” That said, I told them the consequences of misusing the opportunity were quite dire.

  “No matter what your station in society may be, your reputation has to be preserved. Today you’re beautiful and desirable. While it lasts, don’t squander it on casual liaisons with random lovers, and lose your appeal with better quality suitors. Believe me, I know. This time of your life is your big chance to attract a worthy husband. These nightly contests competing for the best-looking boys—they must cease.”

  Amazingly enough, the girls responded to this quite well, I must say. The girls loved being made up each day to look beautiful; and took to maintaining their appearance throughout the night. It changed their self-image. That was one of the first things I taught them. Then I taught them even more!

  You see, I soon began to notice the girls loved to sing while they worked. This brought back so many fond memories of working as Morgana’s handmaid. Many of the other maids there used to do the same thing; myself included. We sang like birds all day long and taught each other folk songs from our home villages. One of the twins was quite good actually, so I helped the other girl learn to harmonize with her. In only a few months, they were singing for the customers in the tavern, and we even cleared out a little stage area for them to entertain the audience.

  It became an almost nightly attraction as the girls performed for crowds of people leading sing-alongs or occasionally giving a solo performance. In time they sounded so beautiful together that visitors to our little town would make it a point to amble in and see the adorable twins perform. Often people would come all the way from Camelot to see them, wealthy travelers included.

  Bedemer liked my many changes! He was soon making lots of money, and his growing wealth made him thrilled with having me around. He would sometimes fantasize with me in the mornings about a possible retirement once he’d made enough to give up the business for good.

  “It won’t be long ’fore I can finally let this all go,” he said to me more than once. “Shut those old doors one of these nights and move on with my life. Maybe travel east. Start a new business like my wife and I planned on doing. A brewery perhaps. Certainly learned enough by now to make a go of that, methinks. Or maybe I’ll find myself a house in the country somewhere with a little garden. Sit back and relax finally.” I absolutely couldn’t blame him for that. Running a tavern was not the kind of work for an old man; and Bedemer was aging fast, I could see.

  Then there was my loving Alguin. That was the best part of all! He returned to the inn each morning after working nights in the dungeon, just like we’d planned. In fact the three of us would sit in the empty tavern and tell all about our adventures from the evening before. I was exhausted after every night, and when we’d finish up a nice breakfast that Bedemer made for us, Alguin and I would then slip off to one of the empty bed chambers in the back. Bedemer meanwhile would clean up the tavern and limp off to bed for a long nap. Alguin and I would make love, sleep several hours, then later, we’d get the tavern ready with fresh bread baking, stews cooking, and our latest batch of beer on tap.

  At dusk, Alguin would hit the road to make his way back to Camelot, and Bedemer would enjoy a clean kitchen, fresh bread, cheeses, dried meats laid out, and ale ready to serve the customers coming into the tavern. At night, the whole thing would start all over again, with the twins awakened and made up to look beautiful. I’d give them baths, sew and repair their dresses, style their hair, and get right to work priming customers for the night’s revelry. It was all so exhausting and entertaining at the same time; and despite that it made my relationship with Alguin even better.

  How ironic, you know? Years before, back at the castle, I had to see those things going on with Gwynevere’s promiscuous handmaidens, and I was never able to participate. Now I was running the show,
and getting plenty of attention with no one to rein me in. I certainly got the most out of it each night, I can tell you. Plus when the rowdiness had ended, and the last of the drunken sots were shown the door, and everything was quiet once again, I could look forward to the tall muscular body of my own loving man the next day, tired as I was. Then, after the lovemaking, we’d sleep together, entwined naked on the bed until well into the afternoon.

  Yes, the nights exhausted me, but my mind was filled with so much fascination and enrichment. I can remember always being tired. Some days I wanted to sleep and not wake for days. Yet I couldn’t stand the thought of missing another incredible night. On Sundays of course, we were not allowed to open, so I could sleep all day with Alguin, and rest up for another amazing week. This was so much more fun than working at Camelot! I always felt so safe and so valued. After a while, the regular customers from the town simply left the girls alone. Me being there made them behave, I guess.

  Well, not totally. You see, it then became me who took the brunt of the men’s lustful advances. I became the focus of their attention practically overnight! It didn’t bother me, though I must say it did make me long for my man the next morning! Coincidentally Alguin loved showing up in the morning from work, craving me just as much as I was desiring him! Those were indeed some of our best years together.

  Some nights they made short work of my dress. Other times, they simply wanted my plump bottom in their lap, cleavage pressing into their chin. “Show us a little leg, sweetheart,” they’d say. Or “Comfort a poor old man in his hour of need.”

  They’d call out for me, beg me to come sit with them. Ask if I was married. Try and seduce me. It was all in good fun. They’d pull me down into their booths with them, fondle my breasts, slip a hand up my skirt, whatever they figured they could get away with. If it ever went too far, I could always warn them about Bedemer. It rarely came to that of course. I was a good sport and the men generally managed themselves.