Love in Perlaedon

[Lief Erikson]

*This particular short story I wrote I'm almost to embarrassed to post. What'll happen to my reputation as a pretty good writer if I post THIS?

Ah well . All my fantasy stories are comedies except for my novel. I'll be posting another comedy some time soon after this one. Unfortunately this one is undated; I'm not sure when I wrote it, but I know it was after Life of a Shark. Anyway, here goes .*

Love in Perlaedon

Barvalon sighed as he wiped his chin, nonchalantly placing a glass wine cup back on the table. "If there is one thing I miss while I’m away, it’s good Perlaedon wine."
His suitors giggled and hid their faces behind silk handkerchiefs. Usually girls were not the suitors, and even if it would mean that it was he who had to propose eventually, he wished it was the other way around. Having these girls simpering over him all day was the one thing he didn’t miss while he was away. But benefits only came with difficulties, so he supposed he had to bear this.
He forced a grin, but he was afraid it looked more like a snarl.
The women giggled again, several of them blushing uproariously.
He sat up from the couch and extended his hand to one of the maidens. "My boots, please?"
She hid them behind her back, giggling and blushing furiously. He sighed and stood up, and she backed up, shaking her head and reddening all over again.
He put his hands behind her back and took his boots away, but as he tried to walk away, he found that she wouldn’t let go of his arm.
"What is your name?" he asked quietly.
"Rose," she said, batting her eyelashes.
"I should have guessed," he said dryly and she blushed, the others laughing uproariously. "Well Rose, would you please release my arm?"
"Only if you kiss me," she said.
He tore his arm loose and pulled on his boots, stomping once in each of them before walking out the door, the whole pack of them following him, chattering and giggling to one another.
He walked up to the king’s door and knocked twice.
"Come in, Barvalon, I’ve been waiting for you."
He opened the door a small way, squeezed through and latched it shut in the girls’ faces, pulling the bolt behind him.
"They causing you problems again?" Pherledon asked quietly, a small smile hovering around his face.
"Not a moment’s peace, and it’s not funny. They cling to me like leaches while I’m here, the only thing I don’t miss while I’m away from Milkran."
"How did your trip go this time?" Pherledon asked, raising a hand to his chin.
"The griffin is trying harder to escape its prison, and the Serpent too. It’s as if they sense something evil nearby, and are trying to reach it. Last time they did this was when the Black Giant came to Milkran."
"And you slew it, even though it killed fifty other of our knights," Pherledon said with a nod of his head. "In single combat, too. Don’t you understand why, with this only one of your great feats those women chase you everywhere?"
"They don’t even know the first thing about attracting a man," Barvalon said with a sigh, sitting on the bottom step of the balcony.
"You are the greatest warrior the realm has ever seen. Masters of swords cannot train you any farther, and how long was the time in which you beat the last one who challenged you?"
"Kivilron Dark Sword," Barvalon recited. "Master of evil swordsmen, leading an army to Milkran. Barvalon Master of White Warriors, brave hero of Perlaedon slew him in fifteen seconds and killed each of his strongest warriors. But I’m not here to speak of my feats of arms. Everyone I speak to is longing to shake my hand, to have me sign a autograph, to hear a pleasant word. Why can’t I speak with anyone intelligent anymore? There’s you and the White Warriors. They speak straight and don’t force handkerchiefs round my arms."
Pherledon’s cheeks puffed and he burst out laughing, holding his sides with mirth. Barvalon frowned and glanced down at himself. His eyes came upon three pink kerchiefs, two tied to his arm and one to his leg, each of them having notes written on them with meeting dates.
Reaching down, he ripped the kerchiefs off and threw them in a wastebasket. He sighed and put his head in his hands. "Is it their goal to drive me mad?"
"Thank-you for your report, Master of White Warriors. Return to the prisons of the serpent and griffin and ensure that they stay in their places."
"Thank-you," Barvalon said, standing up and walking towards the door. When he reached the door he heard several giggles from outside. Stopping, he turned his head back to Pherledon. "Your highness, do you mind if I leave by the window?"