Two Candles: A Sapphic Fairytale (Sapphic Fairytales) (2 page)

Rose, Rose, Rose Red

Will I ever see thee wed?

I will marry at my will, sire,

At my will.

Sir Roland was a rare thing: a lord and knight beloved of his tenants and respected by his peers. The people of his valley loved him because he enforced the law with honor and justice, and kept the peace with an even, fair hand, raising his sword to none who did not deserve it. The knights and barons of the kingdom respected him because he was a formidable warrior and a strong voice at court for reason and compassion.

His three children were his pride: his eldest, Erec, who would succeed him, and who was his squire; Evain, who was studying to serve as the valley’s priest, and his youngest, Rose.

Sir Roland would never have said it, for he loved his sons dearly, but no one doubted that Rose was his favorite. She could out-fence and out-joust Erec on the training ground more often than not, she was better read than Evain, and she shared her father’s loyalty and sense of justice. If she were taller, broader of shoulder, and ruddier of cheek than was accounted pretty in those days, no one dared say it in her father’s hearing.

One day, a messenger came desperately riding, not from the court, but across the kingdom’s border. The neighboring king’s daughter had been kidnapped by the infamous and mysterious Black Knight, who had taken her to his castle in the wilderness that lay between the two kingdoms. Could Sir Roland help?

“I will,” said he.

“But father,” objected Erec, face pale, “it should be I, not you, for we cannot risk your loss. The
Black Knight!”

“Harvest is near. You must stay here and safeguard the valley,” Sir Roland sighed. “’Twas the Black Knight when I was a boy, and ‘twas the Black Knight when my father was a boy. It cannot be the same man.”

Erec frowned, but agreed to stay.

Evain gulped and spluttered, “If you will go, F-father, I shall come and minister to you.”

“Nay, my boy. I would not take you from the flock that needs you.”

Evain looked down, but nodded.

Helping her father strap on his red armor, away from the others, Rose asked, “And what shall I do, Father? For I would not have you go alone.”

Sir Roland turned and kissed her upon the forehead. “As I would not lose you for all the world. Stay,” he said, “and help you brothers.” She began to object, but he stilled her. “And if… If I should not return, come and fetch me, for I would not have my body rot in that wilderness. Do you promise me, daughter?”

Rose did not want to agree, but she knew that she must, and so she said, “It is against my will, but yes, Father, I swear that I shall do as you ask.”

And off he rode, cheered by his people, but loudest by his youngest child.

When three days had passed, Rose knew that something was wrong. She went to Erec and begged him to gather up the men of the village and to help her bring their father back.

“It is only three days,” said Erec with a frown, “and the fields must be harvested. Surely we can wait a little while longer.”

Holding down her anger, Rose turned to Evain, who also refused. “Father bade me stay with my flock, and so I shall do.”

And so that night Rose left on an old grey horse that no one would miss. Not wanting to go unarmed, she had strapped on her father’s oldest armor, the red faded until it was scarcely there, had taken his oldest, most nicked sword, and had hefted a spare lance.

It was a bright, moonlit night, and Rose knew the woods, and so she approached the edge of the forest, she felt no greater fear than anyone might feel, riding into dark, bandit-haunted woods at night. Yet she should be pardoned for crying out in surprise when a magpie flew out of the shadows and landed upon her mount’s head. “Oh! What are you doing out so late, friend?”

The bird gazed at her for a moment, and then said, “Rose of name and rose of hue, come and pay your father’s due.”

“How do you know my name!” asked Rose, but the bird merely repeated, “Rose of name and rose of hue, come and pay your father’s due,”
and then flitted off down one of the forest tracks.

Not knowing what else to do, Rose followed where it flew.

Rose & Lily: A Sapphic Fairytale

The author of the up-coming novel
A Joy Forever: An Erotic Education
,
K.D. West
is a teacher, writer and performer living in a small suburb of a big city:

Not a huge amount to say — I'm an author of steamy stories who happens to be a teacher; these things don't mix well in public, so I tend to be fairly quiet about real life in my blogging. I am, however, interested in all sorts of things -- books, writing, theater, mythology, and, obviously, erotica! I'm a huge reader of genre fiction -- mostly mysteries and fantasy, but also science fiction and historical romance."

West has written two intertwined series involving a young woman and her older lover (the
Juliet Takes Flight
and
Erotic Tales: Letters to Allison
stories) and a series of stories about friends discovering that they can become much more (
Friendly Ménage Tales
). Also on the way: an erotic paranormal/urban fantasy novel involving a long lost friend coming all-but-literally back from the dead, and showing a happily married couple just what they'd been missing.