Prince Gyllen Ch. 02

The iron portcullis to the outer walls surrounding the castle had slowly been winched up and Prince Gyllen came through riding on Snowcloud, his white mare, dressed in a navy blue hooded cloak over a sky blue doublet, beige breeches and a rapier at his side purely for cosmetic reasons with his blond hair lightly flowing in the mild breeze. Following him were a gaggle of soldiers in clunky armour riding on less elegant geldings, among whom was Robert, the rookie who befriended Gyllen after becoming his bodyguard. The prince reached the grey stone steps that led up to the castle entrance before dismounting and letting the stable master take Snowcloud away. The enormous wooden doors were pushed open by two servants and out walked Queen Helio, husband to the king of Snjórland and mother to Gyllen and his three sisters. She stood at the top of the stairs wearing a long, frilly, red dress. With her olive skin and curly, jet-black hair, you could tell she was not a local woman, originally being a princess from Hispania, a country located on the far western side of the continent. Helio had a mature and dignified type of beauty to her that comes naturally to these types of women as they age. Wide hips, large breasts and a mole on the left side of her top lip. Gyllen genuflected towards her as a mark of respect, having an air of pride and formality about himself.

"I have returned, Mother." He said before standing back up.

"Oh, mi querido Gyllen!" Helio said in her foreign accent and her native language's words that slipped out every now and then, running down the steps, almost tripping up on her own dress and cuddled her son.

"Mother, please! People are staring!" Gyllen gently pushed his mother away, hearing some of the soldiers snicker behind him.

"Do you have any mosquito bites? Any cuts? Bruises?" Helio turned Gyllen's head to examine his cheeks.

"I'm perfectly fine, Mother!" Gyllen reassured her, taking her hands away from his face. "I imagine Father is too busy to come and see me as usual..."

"Don't say it like it's a bad thing. Your padre is a very hard worker."

"What about Silfr?"

"She is out at the moment. Eir is still at home however."

"Oh, wonderful..."

The prince and queen walked into the main hall of the castle, decorated with tapestries along the walls depicting famous historical moments in the kingdom and a long red carpet lead up to a pair of thrones. All of a sudden, Gyllen was jumped on from behind by somebody, nearly collapsing from the sudden attack,

"Hiya, li'l bro!" A girl with wavy chestnut hair had her heaving breasts squashed up against the prince's back as her arms crossed over his chest to keep a hold on him.

"Hello, Eir..." The prince said unenthusiastically. Eir let go and dashed in front of the prince, wearing expensive looking jewellery on a beautiful white dress.

"Did ya bring me back a pressie?" She asked with wide-brown-eyed glee.

"I did not." The prince mumbled.

"Aw, meanie!" Eir pouted.

"Forgive me..." Gyllen sighed without any meaning behind his words.

"I'm just joking, silly!" Eir booped him on the nose. "Do you wanna play with me later if Silfr isn't back? Daddy got me a buncha new teddies!"

"I'll pass..."

"What about my flower collection? I found some really pretty ones while you were away."

"Eir, please, I'm very tired from riding home all day. Can I just have five minutes to nap?"

"No probs! I'll be your wake up call."

"Uh, no, Eir, that is quite alright..." What Gyllen was saying did not register with the airhead and she just skipped along the corridor and out of sight. Gyllen just groaned in annoyance.

The prince arrived to his room in the north-eastern tower and took out a folded piece of parchment out from his pocket. He opened it up and once again saw the message Min left him: 'Marie Queen's Close, Mrs. Hertz Boarding House.' No doubt this place was in the Monster District, the trouble is just finding out exactly where. Regular human citizens rarely ever went into the Monster District, let alone the royal family, so he doubted anybody in the castle would know exactly where this boarding house was. Gyllen decided it would be best just to go there himself and hope for the best, though knowing his mother, she would not even let him out of the gate without at least four soldier going with him, something that he would rather be without if he was to be meeting with the goblin who had just taken his virginity the day before. The only solution he could come up with was to sneak out of the castle without anybody knowing his missing presence.

Night fell and Gyllen donned his cloak once again, ready to leave for the other side of town. The sun had set and lamp posts had been lit all across the city which twinkled from down below Gyllen's window. The prince had come up with the idea of stuffing some of his pillows underneath the quilt of his bed, so anybody who may have checked in on him would assume the mound under the sheets would be him sleeping and promptly leave without approaching. Happy with his makeshift substitute, Gyllen walked down the spiralling staircase of the spire and left through a door at the base out beyond the castle walls, crossing through the courtyard utilising the shadows of the barricades. Luckily, security was pretty lax tonight. The benefits of living in such a peacefully dull country, I guess. Slipping out of one of the unmanned exits and across the bridge of the moat, Gyllen had made it into town without being spotted. It was an odd yet satisfying feeling to finally be out of the palace without any bodyguards, for a moment feeling like he could do anything, smiling like an idiot with a grin stretched from ear to ear as though he was a wrongly accused prisoner finally set free back into the world from jail. He put his hood up and closed his cape over his body so nobody would recognise him, his high-class clothes or his gorgeous blond head of hair. There was not much people out in the sector near the castle seeing how it was fairly late in the evening. All of the shops were shut and people were heading home after the long work day to recline or to the pubs to get themselves drunk. Gyllen was distracted by all the mundane sights not covered by the bodies of soldiers to the point he had almost forgotten why he even came out in the first place and briskly made his way to where the Monster District was roughly located.

Gyllen arrived to the ghetto where many of the non-human citizens of the city lived, still trying to cover himself up to the best to his ability as to not to be discovered. You could easily tell when you had reached it too seeing what a miserable bunch of streets it was. A homeless dwarf sat on the cobblestone walls hoping for some alms, a drunk bugbear staggered past and vomited into an dustbin and he swore he saw a couple of kobolds exchanging hands over some shady goods in an alleyway. Keeping his eyes on the ground, he quickly dashed past all this, aimlessly wandering about to find Marie Queen's Close. He soon gave up and decided to pluck up the courage to ask for directions. There was a suspicious troll smoking a long, wooden pipe with his back up against a wall and his eyes shifting to and fro, looking at everybody going past him for some reason. Gyllen warily walked up to him.

"Excuse me, sir?" The imposing troll looked down to the prince through narrow yellow eyes, though his face was still obscured by the shadows coming from his hood and his trademark golden locks tucked out of sight so he would not be found out. The troll remained silent and Gyllen spoke up once again under his intimidating gaze, his voice starting to shake. "I-I-I'm looking for Marie Queen's Close. W-would you happen to know where it is?" The troll slowly raised his hand and pointed down the road.

"...Second left." The troll mumbled in a deep voice as he went back to smoking.

"...Thank you very much!" Gyllen speedily bowed and walked down the street, exhaling in relief that he did not get beat up.

The prince went down the alley where the troll indicated and right at the corner was a door with 'Mrs. Hertz' stencilled on along with a piece of parchment stating "No vacancies" pinned just underneath the more permanent words. Gyllen used the brass knocker and a couple of seconds later and an elderly ogre lady opened the door a tiny crack, presumably Mrs. Hertz.

"I'm sorry to bother you at such a late hour, madam."

"We're full up, dearie." She said, about to close the door but Gyllen stopped her with his hand.

"Actually, I'm looking to meet somebody here."

"Oh, in that case, come on in." Mrs. Hertz unlocked and widened the door. Gyllen walked into the building and a lit candle mounted on a wall illuminated his face.

"A human!" Mrs. Hertz exclaimed. "That's unusual around this part of town."

"Yes, I noticed on my way here..."

"You better watch yourself, dearie. A lot of the folks 'round here despise humans."

"Thank you for the advice." Gyllen gulped.

"Who are you're looking for?"

"Min. She's a goblin."

"Ah, yes. Ms. Fe. Such a nice girl. Always pays her rent on time. Are you a friend of hers?"

"I suppose I am." Gyllen did not really know how to class their relationship.

"Room 3, just up the stairs. I think she's still in."

"Thank you, madam."

Gyllen climbed the creaky steps to the second story and found a door with a rusty, metal '3' screwed on the surface at the end of the corridor. Slightly hesitant at first, he rapped his knuckles against it three times and Min opened up, having to stretch her arms in order to reach the knob, wearing even raunchier clothes than last time. On her torso was a well-worn, see-through, constricting mesh vest with a few torn holes here and there, mostly around her slim belly. Underneath, she was wearing nothing but a dark bikini top that kept her breasts held in check and on her lower half she was wearing a pair of white, buttoned-up shorts with the legs so short to show off as much of her wide thighs as possible that you would swear they were practically underwear. On her feet were black, velvet, high-heeled boots that rode up to just below her knees making her seem slightly taller than normal.

"Oh, shit, ya actually came!" Min said. "How ya doin', Prince Pussy?"

"Very well, thanks for asking." Gyllen said. "And my name is Gyllen..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Min pulled him inside. It was a single room, with a single window and a single bed, decorated with rot, damp and cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling along with some crates stacked in the corner filled with all sorts of baubles. "It isn't much but make yerself at home."

"Good gods, how can you live like this?" Gyllen said in disbelief at the state of her living conditions.

"'Sonly temporary. I'm lucky to even have a roof over me head at all!"

"I'm sorry...that was rude of me." Gyllen apologised. "I wasn't criticising, I'm just shocked that some people have to live this way."

"Well, not all of us are born royalty...or human."

"...Are you trying to guilt trip me? I'm all for equal rights for non-humans, you know."

"Jus' thinkin' out loud. Anyway, I've decided that we're goin' out tonight."

"Oh..."

"What's the matter?"

"It's just...I was expecting more fornicating with you."

"Don't worry, they'll be plenty o' that later."

"Oh, good!" Gyllen smiled once more.

"By the by, we can't have ya goin' out in those clothes."

"What's wrong with them?"

"People are gonna recognise yer the prince from a mile away in that fancy get up."

"Hmm, I didn't really think about a proper disguise outside of the cloak..."

"Even that alone looks better than all me clothes combined! Good thing clever ol' me thought ahead! I got ya some stuff to help ya blend in a bit better."

"Really? You shouldn't have." Gyllen was moved by Min thinking about him.

"'Salright, they were goin' cheap." Min smirked. "In fact, ya might even say they were a 'steal.'"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that..." Gyllen ignored what Min may have been implying.

"They're jus' in that chest over there." Min indicate a locker at the foot of her bed. "I'll wait outside 'till yer ready, okay?" The goblin left the room, closing the door behind her. Gyllen opened up the box and took one good look at the contents before saying to himself:

"You've got to be joking..."

"Come on! How long are ya gonna take?" Min shouted through the door, her patience from waiting used up.

"I look ridiculous!" Gyllen yelled back.

"I'll be the judge o' that." Min opened the door back up.

"Ah! Don't look!" Gyllen had changed from his regal clothing to a hot pink boob tube that hugged tightly around his upper body, leaving his shoulders and arms bare. Around his waist was a black mini-skirt that was so short, you could almost see the black cheekies underneath even when he just standing naturally. Down his thin legs, Gyllen was wearing fishnet knee highs and on his feet was a pair of platform heeled shoes that matched the colour of the top. All Min could say was:

"Damn!"

"These clothes are too small..." Gyllen said, holding onto his skirt, desperately trying to pull it down so it didn't reveal so much.

"Gimme a break! It's not like I knew yer exact measurements. I think I got 'em pretty close, all things considered."

"And I look like a prostitute..."

"Exactly! Nobody is gonna think you're the prince now!" Min said, while checking him out. The prince could honestly pass as an attractive young lady, even more so now since he was wearing woman's clothing. "Actually, lemme just add some finishing touches..." Min reached into a satchel hanging off the post of her bed and pulled out various, cheap make-up trinkets.

After a short while, Min finished up painting Gyllen's face, standing back to admire her work. The prince's eyelashes were now black and elongated with mascara, his cheeks subtlety rouge with blush and his lips rose red with gloss.

"How do I look?"

"Like a sex beast!"

"I meant, am I still recognisable?"

"Eh, kind of? But I think this will be enough. Anyway, let's move! We're late enough as it is."

"Late? Late for what?"

"Remember how I said I was gonna teach ya stuff?" Min took Gyllen's hand and they rushed back out the room. "This is gonna be one of your lessons."

"I can't go out like this!"

"Quit lyin' to yerself! Ya obviously don't mind since ya put on the clothes and let me doll ya up in the first place."

"Tch! She knows..!" Gyllen said in his head. They walked downstairs, Gyllen trying not to fall over in his new shoes and bumped into Mrs. Hertz on the way out as she was checking her books.

"Are you girls going out?" The elderly ogress asked them.

"Yeah, Mrs. H. Don' know when we'll get back." Min said to her.

"You, human girl, be careful out there, you hear?" Hertz told to Gyllen. The prince realised that she must have thought he was a woman this whole time.

"Yes, madam..." Gyllen said. The two left the building and were back out into the streets.

"Y'see? Mrs. H was fooled."

"It could just be her ageing eyesight..."

"Yer such a downer..." Min elbowed him in the stomach. "Don't worry about getting yer arse shanked 'cause yer a human either. Mos' people wouldn' do it without a reason...maybe."

"That's reassuring..."

Min and Gyllen made their way through the district, sticking to the back alleys to keep the cross-dressing prince out of sight for the time being, who was still trying to stretch his skirt just a little bit further while hobbling in his heels on the cobblestone streets to keep up with the goblin, making a clacking noise every time they connected with the ground. Fortunately, for them and their revealling clothes, it was a fairly warm night by Snjórlandic standards. They emerged back out onto the main street and found themselves standing outside a tavern, Gyllen could hear chattering inside, sounding pretty crowded. A rectangular sign hung from the wall above the door with the words: 'The Laughing Laelaps' and gleeful dog depicted underneath.

"Here we are." Min said as she reached up to a ring on the door, turning it and opening up the entrance. The pair went inside and the smell of cheap booze and hookah smoke struck Gyllen's nasal, making him wrinkle his nose slightly upon entering. Everybody inside the pub had gone silent with their attention turned to see who just came inside, Gyllen coughed and looked through the fine mist to see a horde of non-humans sitting around circular tables and staring back at him, mostly orcs though there was a couple of members from other species. Somebody eventually broke the silence with:

"Fuckin' hell! What a hottie!" What followed was laughter and wolf whistles for this attractive 'female' human who just walked in. Gyllen just looked at his feet, trying to avoid their gazes before addressing Min.

"Min, could we please leave? This is too humiliating..." He whispered to his goblin friend.

"You kiddin'? They love ya! Jus' relax and lemme handle everythin'." Min said to him and then shouted to the crowd. "Alright, boys! That's enough!"

"Hey, it's Min!" Somebody else said, followed by cheers. "I was too distracted by the blond to see her."

"Shut it, Jerry!" Min snapped back. Everybody chortled at her sass. She and Gyllen walked past the clusters of men to the bar where they sat on stools, Min having to jump up onto the taller one just to be seen. Gyllen crossed his legs out of habit, causing his skirt to ride up his thighs but he managed to pull it down before anybody could see anything, much to the onlookers disappointment. The owner 's back was turned to the two. He was a green-scaled lizardman wearing an apron over his shirt with countless stains dotted about it, washing out a glass with a rag.

"Yo, Wahan! How 'bout some service?" Min said to him. The reptilian humanoid turned around.

"Oh, a new fassse." Wahan hissed, noticing Gyllen. "What'sss your name, misss?"

"Gyll-" Gyllen stopped himself before he foolishly stated his real name but now having the pressure to come up with an alias. And fast. "Um...Goldie! My name is Goldie."

"Nissse to meet you." Wahan shook his cold hand with 'Goldie.' "What would you girlsss like?"

"Just the usual for me, Wah." Min said. "What about you, Goldie?"

"Um...You wouldn't happen to have any tea, sir?" Gyllen asked Wahan. The lizardman cackled along with anybody else in earshot, including Min. Gyllen nervously laughed along.

"I don't know what tavernsss you have been to but the only thingsss we ssserve here are booze and more booze." The barkeep replied.

"In that case, I'll just have the same..." Gyllen rarely ever drank anything alcoholic outside of special occasions so he hoped what Min had ordered was not too strong for him to handle. Wahan slung the cloth over his left shoulder and fetched two mugs, holding them underneath the tap of a barrel to fill them up with liquid.

"Seriously? Goldie?" Min whispered to Gyllen, stifling her mirth at his choice of name.

"I couldn't think of anything else on such short notice!" Gyllen retorted.

"With a name like that, people are gonna to think ya really are a whore."

"By the way, I've noticed that everyone hasn't looked away from us yet since we came in..." Gyllen said while he looked over his shoulder to confirm the men were still glaring their way. He twirled his finger on a lock of hair in anxiety. "I know they probably don't see many humans but still...it's making me uncomfortable..."

"Yer jus' paranoid. Nobody thinks yer the prince."

"That isn't what I'm worried about..."

Wahan turned back around and slammed two large steins, overflowing with foam, onto the counter.

"That will be a piessse of gold each." The barkeeper said. Gyllen reach down to his pockets only to realise that there was not any on the skirt.

"Oh, blast! I've forgotten my purse in my other clothes." Gyllen said.