Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 20:15:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: B Chapel <merdement@yahoo.com>
Subject: New Empire, chapter 8

Dear reader,

This story, and those that may follow, involve a
place, time and people that never were. There will be
a healthy dose of lesbian erotica; plus some BD/SM,
non-consensual, adult-youth and possibly some (gasp)
hetero as the plot progresses. Any comments -- good and
especially bad -- are very welcome and encouraged via
the e-mail address at the bottom. One cannot progress
without feedback.

THE LEGAL THING: This is a work of fiction. Any
similarities to real persons, living or dead, is
purely coincidental. Any similarities to characters in
other fictional works, other than those pulled from
classical mythology (and therefore within the public
domain), are also coincidental. If individuals feel
that this story impinges on their person or work
should take no offense, as none is meant or was
intended. They should also relax and obsess less.

Remember, if we stopped writing when we ran out of
original themes, literature would have died with the
Greeks.

Enjoy,

The Author

P.S. Sorry this chapter took so long to get to you,
things happened, you see.


Yassine stood at a long table in the center of the
palace's great hall, examining Empress Kaleda's plans
for increased trade between Donai and Amazonia. They
were modest, at least in the first years of the
agreement.
The first shipments to be sent to the island would
consist of artisans, crafters and intelligentsia. The
empress had been emphatic that representatives of
Donai's culture be the vanguard of future dealings
between the two nations. She conceded that most would
have to be women, but her major domo, Vasallo Grune,
would stand in her stead as ambassador to continue
talks with Queen Hippolyta.
The Amazon had met Grune earlier in the week. He was
rail-thin and taller than Yassine by a foot. His skin
was inky black; save for an intricate web work of
golden tattoos that ran the length of his body even to
the back of his bald head.
"We have the greatest confidence that Vasallo will
represent our interests adequately while not offending
the populace at large," Kaleda said.
"There will be an outcry," Yassine said. "My mother's
feelings toward Donai aren't accepted by everyone.
Many believe these talks herald the end of our
people."
"The greatness of an idea can be measured by the
amount of resistance to it," the Empress said. "There
was resistance to the idea of our relations here as
well."
Kaleda unrolled a large scroll across the table and
placed weights at each end, "Eventually, we will want
to build an official residence on the island,
somewhere near our sister's own palace. This is a
draft design based on our understanding of your
architecture. Naturally, we are open to consultation
should this plan clash with the existing buildings."
Yassine gazed on the plans. By Donai's standards, it
was a short building. The palace was an imposing
edifice of high walls, sharp spires and foreboding
statues. The plan on the table was a quarter of the
height and dominated by domes and open breezeways. It
looked to her more like a public museum than the
sometimes residence of an empress. There was little
there to jar Amazonian sensibilities, even if the
actual footprint of the building would take up the
larger part of a city block.
"I think mother would like to put her own touches on
this," Yassine said. "But I think she'll like it."
"Let's let business sit for now," Kaleda said, gently
taking the Amazon's arm. "We didn't have much of a
breakfast and I could use a few minutes to rest."
Yassine followed the elegant blond through the rear
doors of the Great Hall towards the royal residences
in the south of the palace. As they headed down the
high-vaulted corridor, servants, officials and guards
alike stopped what they were doing to bow their heads.
"We understand that you took dinner with General
Yevtana earlier this week," she said.
"Yes."
"Hopefully it wasn't all tedious business?"
"Actually, none of it was business," Yassine said. She
had no illusions that Kaleda knew about every second
spent at her general's home. Statecraft required an
amount of spying -- certainly she was taking mental
note of everything her mother would want to know
about. "I had a wonderful time."
"And we're pleased of that," Kaleda said as they came
to a large open area where the south and seaward walls
of the palace met. The side of the room was dominated
by a pair of tall doors that were seemingly hewn from
single pieces of wood.
 The empress bypassed those doors and went to a
smaller door in the corner. She opened it and led the
Amazon inside.
After a few turns down a narrow hallway they entered
the imperial residence. It was, Yassine thought,
everything the great hall suggested the empress would
consider adequate living space. It had a high, arched
ceiling decorated with frescoes and fine carving.
Pillars separated the room, which had no interposing
walls, into distinct living areas. Comfortable couches
surrounded banks of scrolls set into the walls. A
simple table sat near a servants' entrance in another
corner. Beneath a mosaic depicting Magda I, the
founder of the empire, lay a bed that resembled
nothing so much as a pond that had been filled with
pillows and silk.
Through a series of arches, the sea and nearby islands
were visible although strangely muted. The colors of
the world through the arches were washed out, as if
the palette of nature had run dry.
"Kitten," Kaleda called out. "Kitten, where are you?"
On the other side of the arches, a figure Yassine
hadn't seen stood and approached. It was hazy and
unclear, the problem of colors and focus was far more
pronounced. Kaleda said something in a strange
language and the light coming through the arches
rippled and began to clear. After a few seconds,
sunlight and all of the colors of the world poured
into the room.
"Something of Roquan's designing," the empress said by
way of explanation. "When the emperor is home he
doesn't like waking up earlier than he chooses to."
As the Amazon looked about the sumptuous room, she
realized that there were no high wooden doors in the
room leading to the outside. If there were, they would
have opened onto the bed. Another concession to the
emperor's need for sleep, she thought, knock on the
big doors all you want to, you won't bother anyone on
the other side.
The figure on the other side of the arches was now
clear; it was one of the many young girl servants
within the palace. She was lushly rounded with long
straight black hair that stretched to the middle of
her back. As the light barrier dropped the girl ran to
the empress' side, giggling and squealing. She wrapped
her arms around her liege and kissed her neck
affectionately. The girl was entirely nude and, like
the other servants, hairless between her legs.
Kaleda tousled the girl's hair playfully and patted
her bottom, "Don't be rude in front of our guest,
Kitten. It's not too late in the day for you to have a
spanking. Princess Yassine, this is Kitten."
The girl's dark, wide eyes lit up as she approached
the tall Amazon. She bowed, kissed Yassine's hand, and
gave her a light hug. Her skin was still warm and
slightly moist from the midday sun, "Pari was right,
you are beautiful."
Yassine struggled with her modesty as the nude girl
returned to her place at the empress' side. She curled
herself against the taller woman and nuzzled her neck;
her need was obvious as she rubbed her stiffened
nipples against the empress' arm.
"We're hungry," she said. "Fetch us something to eat,
we'll be on the balcony."
The girl moaned quietly, stayed at the empress' side a
second longer and padded toward one of the small doors
at the far end of the room. Kaleda's eyes never
strayed from the girl's shapely rump as she walked
away.
"Would you like some wine?"
"Please," Yassine said.
Kaleda walked to a stone case near the small table and
touched a small carving. The top of the case swung
upward to reveal a score of differently shaped
bottles. She perused the lot of them carefully before
choosing a cloth-wrapped bottle with an ornate
stopper. She brought it and two golden goblets to one
of the many couches in the room and poured drinks for
them, "This is a northern concoction, found on an
island off the coast of the continent. It's made from
honey, if you find it too sweet the addition of apple
or pear will mitigate the flavor."
Yassine's teeth went on edge as the outrageously sweet
beverage entered her mouth. The empress barely nodded
as she pulled one of each fruit from a bowl on the
table and placed them and a small knife before the
Amazon. Yassine cut one of each and floated them in
the goblet. The flavor was much better.
"You keep a wonderful home, empress," she said. "I've
tasted things in the past weeks I'll be hard-pressed
to describe once I return home."
"What's the point of ruling if one can't enjoy the
fruits of rulership?" Kaleda took a sip of her goblet;
she had added nothing to it. "We choose to enjoy
ourselves when we can."
Kitten reentered the room with a tray of meats,
cheeses and flat breads. The girl placed them on the
table before curling up on the couch next to Kaleda
with her head in her lap. Yassine could see the
glistening of the girl's sex when she reached for a
long slice of cured meat, "Obviously."
The empress smiled, "Sister Amazonia keeps no girls in
her palace?" She stroked Kitten's sable hair idly,
"Surely she has someone on hand to care for her
needs."
"She has a mate," Yassine said sharply. "She is Faeli,
she is my mother as well. They have been together more
than thirty years."
The Amazon was surprised at the anger that had crept
into her voice. Faeli was every bit her mother, only
not the woman who had physically brought her into the
world. She and Hippolyta had laid down before the
Mother Stone, it's holy magic conceived her that day
and gave her her mother's eyes and Faeli's limber
build.
Kitten tensed, Kaleda was unfazed, "Then a princess
goes unattended?"
"No," Yassine stammered. "But we don't..."
"Keep slaves?"
"No!"
"Then why have you kept Pari?" The empress' eyes
glittered. "I must say, you seem to have developed an
attachment to the child. I can't blame you, she's such
a treasure."
Thoughts collided in Yassine's brain. The keeping of
slaves in Amazonian culture was not just anathema, but
also highly unlikely. Amazonia never went on voyages
of conquest, so no prisoners were ever brought back.
Shipwrecks did bring some to the island, but only
women were given the rare option of staying -- men were
either forced to leave or killed (those forced to
leave were, occasionally, given a boat to leave in. An
old Amazonian joke said a man with a good story to
tell would live a longer life). An Amazonian wouldn't
hold another as a slave, where else would they come
from?
But the heir of the First Mother, Hippolyta Gray Eyes,
Anointed Defender and Holy Representative of the
Nameless Goddess, didn't hear the word "no" from just
anyone. Of course, she had been raised under the
careful tutelage of many with the right to tan her
hide if she was rude, but that left thousands to whom
her word was law.
It wasn't uncommon for Yassine and Choura to descend
on the academy barracks after curfew to pick the
ripest new recruits for their nightly pleasures. There
was never a question of whether or not the new girls
would come willingly. Choura was famous for sending
weeping girls back to their beds. Yassine had a
regular group of trainees she enjoyed bringing to her
bed, ones who wanted to be there.
All of the older students did the same, but it was the
princess and her best friend who took first pick.
What was the difference? Yassine realized that she had
been living the same life just without the same names.

Before she could speak, a door that the Amazon had not
seen before opened behind the stone wine case and
Vasallo strode into the room. He was clearly agitated,
"Majesty, we must speak."
Kaleda rose in a fluid movement and went to her
advisor. Kitten rose and sat next to Yassine. She
wrapped her leg around the Amazon's waist and ran her
tongue along the shell of her ear.
Before she could react the naked girl whispered in her
ear, "If I say what I want to say, I could be killed
for it."
Yassine nodded, "I understand."
"Pari loves you," she said and ground her crotch into
Yassine's hip. "You don't love her. Please, send her
away. Don't hurt her, I hate it when she cries."
Yassine had begun to push Kitten away but stopped when
she heard Pari's name. She realized that Kitten had
said what she did to get her attention. The girl's
eyes became sharp and her hands dug into Yassine's
shoulders, "Don't make her cry."
Kaleda's voice came sharply, "Princess Yassine, you
are needed."
Yassine stood instinctively, her legs responding to
the sharp tone of authority. Kaleda's face was stony,
"There is an army at the gates, we are under attack."