The Last of the Human Horses - Part 4
Princess Marjan entered the room and walked confidently towards her throne. Her heart was beating fast, but she kept the composure of a future Queen. Now 25 years old, she had definitely inherited her mother’s royal attitude.
The entire court – dozens of eyes in the silent room – was staring at her as she approached the man, chained and kneeling on the floor. It was clear that he hadn’t been treated well for some time, and then put back together during the last few hours: his head was so low that it was hard to see his face. He appeared exhausted and in shock. Dozens of women had tried in vain to ride him, just to prove that he was an authentic human horse despite his Western aspect. He had opposed all of them with his life, like a wild horse at a bronc riding event. Then the risky decision to let Princess Marjan meet him at court was finally taken.
The Princess stopped in front of him without a word, her delicate feet now in his visual field. She wore a very simple dress and open sandals: she didn’t need anything else to look naturally beautiful. Steven slowly raised his head and they looked into each other’s eyes for a second. Then, without a word, she offered him her hand. He took it delicately and kissed it, closing his eyes for a second with devotion. Both their hearts were now beating so fast that they could barely breathe. It felt like the whole world was suddenly perfect, yet at the same time irrelevant because they could only see each other. Steven got on his hands and knees and delicately kissed both of Marjan’s feet. She let her sandals fall off as she gently sat on his back, finding immediately the most comfortable position right in the middle, as though she had been straddling him every day for years. It looked like a ritual tried dozens of times, but it was entirely spontaneous. Steven welcomed her weight by slightly bending his own back, turning it into a comfortable natural saddle, then he started crawling towards the door with her beautiful rider on his back, looking adoringly at her feet dangling in front of him. The chains limited his movements, but nothing could have prevented him from serving his Owner. That’s when the silence was broken by one of the most enthusiastic applause ever witnessed in court.
The Queen and her sisters rushed to congratulate Marjan, hugging and kissing her. She smiled and hugged them back, but she didn’t even think of dismounting. She had never felt so comfortable and in the right place. Then an advisor of the Queen started listing the things they should do… like having a custom harness made for Steven, recalling at court the professional trainers for human horses…
Princess Marjan silenced her with a quick movement of her hand, the one with the birthmark that her slave had just magically recognized and humbly kissed. “Does it look like he needs a trainer? I will take care of my slave and teach him everything he needs to know. Now unchain him!”
“My Princess, are you sure? He could be dangerous! He doesn’t speak our language and no one knows where he came from.”
Princess Marjan looked at the advisor without a word, but with an expression that made her immediately shut up and obey. The room fell into complete silence again. Once her human horse was free of the chains, the Princess looked around from her comfortable position with full awareness of her power, then she slid forward to sit right on the slave’s neck. Now her soft thighs were touching Steven’s cheeks, while her hands rested on them. Without the need for any order, Steven kissed her hand first, then the perfect skin of her thigh right next to it. Princess Marjan smiled, then she put her hands on his head, grabbing his hair firmly as she gently kicked his chest with her heels.
Steven started crawling again, his arms carrying the entire weight of his Princess as she remained seated right on his neck. Two guards opened the huge door of the throne room and the Princess soon disappeared from everybody’s sight, riding towards her room astride the human horse who was meant to serve her forever, and to make her the new Queen of Ashmeera.
Princess Marjan never left her wing of the castle for the following 24 hours, making it clear that she didn’t want anybody to disturb her. The Queen couldn’t help but feel a little worried – her favorite daughter and only heir was with a complete stranger who had the physical strength to easily prevail on her – but she trusted her. Not only she had the birthmark, but also a natural and relentless dominant attitude that simply made it impossible for anybody to disobey her.
When the Princess eventually showed up for breakfast in the large backyard, greeting her Mom and sisters with the brightest smile, they smiled back only after a few seconds of complete surprise: Marjan was riding Steven’s shoulders without any gear whatsoever. She wore a cute Summer dress and she was barefoot, while her slave was completely naked except for his tiny shorts and a pair of small kneepads. He kept his head low to make his broad shoulders even more comfortable for his Princess, and his hands were placed under the sole of her feet as a pair of natural stirrups. He was focused on serving her to the point of seeming hypnotized.
“Nice idea… teaching him to keep your feet so comfortable!” said her second sister, with a nice attitude that almost managed to mask some jealousy.
“Actually he did it spontaneously. But I taught him this one: slave, chair!”
Steven slowly got down on his knees. He lowered his back until it was horizontal and all of Marjan’s weight was sustained by his neck, then a little further so that his elbows and forearms lied on the floor, with his palms up to keep protecting the perfect feet of her Princess. At this point Marjan could easily push herself up from his neck onto the middle of his back, and he immediately assumed the position of chair on his hands and knees.
“Impressive, my dear!” said the Queen with a proud smile.
They started having breakfast and talking of different topics, so Steven was completely ignored for a while, serving as a human chair for his Owner. Then the Princess said: “Mom, of course you can get rid of the twins. I don’t need them anymore. Feel free to do whatever you wish with them.”
“Oh, honey… are you sure? You haven’t even tested Steven outdoors yet!”
“Does it look like there are doubts about him, Mom?”
Six years earlier, after the Queen’s human horse had been irreparably injured by the rebel’s arrow, Marjan’s mother had explained to the young Princess the meaning of her unique birthmark, and why she was destined to rule despite being her youngest daughter. She had also announced a country-wide quest for the man destined to become hers and legitimize her future reign.
Princess Marjan was famous for her strong opinions and courageous positions since childhood, but she surprised even her Mom on that occasion: “I will never use any other man in my life until I find my true slave!”
Many solutions were available for the royal family to be transported without the incomparable devotion and effectiveness of an authentic human horse. A palanquin was the most common, either with a single seat and two slaves to carry it, or larger with at least four carriers. Most of the times an equal number of spare slaves would travel next to the palanquin, as fresh replacements for longer trips or in case of injuries. Princess Marjan was inflexible with her position though, yet she had no intention of walking around on her beautiful and delicate feet… so the Queen’s advisors found a solution in a pair of female twins.
Female slavery was considered an exception, but not too uncommon after a recent war against an army that counted a number of mighty female soldiers: prisoners were always enslaved and usually assigned to humble jobs out of sight. But these two were special, because daughters of the defeated King!
Princess Marjan had been thrilled by the idea of having two defeated princesses as her slaves. However the best trainers worked on them for months without satisfactory results, so the Princess decided to break them herself. She had no specific experience, but she managed to submit them mentally before doing so physically. They became incredibly loyal and submissive to her, but the Princess never showed them any gratitude and made their life very hard. Both twins had their nipples pierced, so that the one carrying the front of the small palanquin could have bridles connected to a pair of nipple rings for the Princess to effectively – and painfully – give her directions from her higher position. Moreover, the Princess refused to travel with spare slaves and always managed to force the twins to go as far as she wished, although never with a performance comparable to what she would have had from an authentic human horse. That was reason of deep frustration for her.
Now, happily sat on her Steven’s back, Princess Marjan finished her breakfast and announced: “Ok, I will go for a ride now. Slave, up!”
Steven followed the previous procedure in the opposite order: first he lowered his head and arms to lie on his forearms, letting the Princess gleefully slide down with her bottom onto his neck and her feet on his palms. Then he lifted her, first by stretching out his legs and then by raising his back.
“But honey, he doesn’t have a harness yet!”
“It doesn’t matter. I will ride him bareback today.” With the slave’s hands as stirrups and his hair as bridles, comfortable on his broad shoulders and sporting her brightest smile, Marjan took towards the woods.
“You are going to break his neck!” her first sister yelled at her.
She waved at her with a smile. “See you later!”
To be continued