Getting closer to your spymaster

"Alexia?" Standing outside her tent, you wait for permission to enter. It crosses your mind that your attractive spymaster might be changing and that if you peeked in now you could catch a glimpse of her lithe figure. You've always recognized that Alexia was pretty, but now that you've had that conversation with Galeon you have started thinking about her a little differently. It takes almost a minute, but Alexia opens the tent flap and invites you in. She has changed her clothing and is now wearing a stylish robe that covers much more of her skin, and a practical grey cape to rest on her slender shoulders. It is nowhere near as modest as the concealing robes worn by the upper-classes of the great old cities of Hellena, but it is certainly much less revealing than the comfortable tunics she wears around camp.

"What do you want, Bruce?" She sounds almost contrite about slapping you and you offer her an olive branch.

"The meeting with Lord Marshal Raxius." You come right to the point, "I believe it might be useful if my Spymaster is in attendance, as she is almost certainly both more perceptive and wiser than I." There is a tiny hitch in her graceful manner but then she smiles almost playfully.

"I see that you've grown wiser my King, just in the past hour." You chuckle softly pleased that at least some of the tension between you seems to have dissipated. You wait patiently as Alexia slips several more blades into sheaths hidden under the robes watching in admiration as you note where the knives get tucked.

"We'll have to take Spook, or we'll be late." You make your tone as firm as possible. Alexia, you knew, much preferred riding horseback but today it is not an option, and you look forward to having this young woman riding with you on your great drake. In hindsight you wonder if all those times she turned down you offer for a lift was because she knew how it would feel to ride together.

"Yes, your Majesty." Alexia drops into a deep curtsy, "This humble servant serves at your pleasure." It is good to see a little of Alexia's sass return - maybe this won't be so bad after all.

"I'll remember that." You must have a stupid grin on your face because Alexia turns on you with the fierceness of a feral Kalion rockcat.

"You'd better not be planning to strap me down in a **** saddle." You don't even own a **** saddle, and you certainly had no intentions to bind Alexia to Spook like a trophy, but you are looking forward to holding her on your lap for the short trip.

It doesn't take long to walk down to the drake roosts and saddle Spook, and sure enough Alexia allows you to sweep her up and settle her onto your lap. She slips an arm around your neck and holds on tightly as Spook climbs the crossbeams of the makeshift drake tower. Even so, if it were not for your strong arm around her waist she might still have slipped off. It is nice to hold her like this and while her breathing quickens slightly and you see a little color in her cheeks, she does not object to the physical nature of the embrace.

Once airborne, the ride is not as bumpy and you loosen your hold slightly allowing Alexia enough freedom to move around a little. Her arm is still around your neck as is yours around her waist, but now that there is no need to hold on for dear life, the embrace is more comfortable - and intimate.

As Spook climbs higher, a wing of United Armies Riders assumes a high-cover position an arrow-flight above and slightly behind you, but you pat the white drake on his neck and set him on a course over the river and towards the besieged city. From the air you can see the great city of Athenapolis surrounded on all side by the various city-state armies augmented by companies of mercenaries interspersed to fill in the gaps.

"Look." Alexia's long fingers point to the river below the city gates, where a dozen or so long sleek galleys are pulled up along the sandy bank of the river along with a much larger ramship with it's double row of oars, "the Amazons have broken through the River Gate. That is the final piece the United Armies needed to make sure that Athenapolis is completely isolated."

"Are they as fierce as their reputation?" You ask. The island of Accor is about as far away from Kalion as you can get without heading into the jungles of the Southern continent, but you've always wanted to visit. You never met one of the warrior women face-to-face but you have not forgotten the galleys that appeared like magic to evacuate your men from certain defeat, the queen that saved your men is now dead (or worse) but this may be your chance to repay the debt of honor that you still carry with you like a brand.

"Fiercer, I'd say," her face is so close to your ear that you could to kiss her with a simple turn of your head, "if my father's notes are correct." She seems to anticipate your intention to seek them out because she warns you not to have anything to do with the warrior-women, "Don't expect to use your charm on that lot, either Bruce; at best you'd be challenged to prove your worth and then have to spend the next week trying to knock up one of those randy bitches, and at worse you'll piss off their young queen and fracture the already weak alliance."

"Don't worry," you pull Alexia a little closer, "I find my interest lies a little closer to home."

"Wha?" It has been a long time since you've been able to surprise this perceptive young woman, but when your moth lands on her lips to silence her, you see her eyes open in shock.