Sopra La Lucrezia 1 Mixing business and pleasure

“A kiss? You are a bold one Angelo.” Lucrezia di Firenze almost purred but the straw in her mouth made that difficult.

If he were under her command, part of her Compagnia di Ventura di Serpente Azzurro she never would have allowed herself any sort of interest in the young man with tied back black hair and the beginnings of a beard.
But he wasn’t and so she let herself dream about his long lean muscles, taking their time in removing each other’s armor and clothes, locking their bodies into a passionate embrace and slowly whiling away a moonlit night in her bed.
He repeated his challenge and brought her back to reality.
“So what shall it be?” She asked in return, the dreamy quality in her voice was suddenly replaced with steel. She had nothing better to do anyway, she wore her armor, a coat made of plate mail and was ready for a fight that might not come at all. She kept her dagger at her side as always and for the moment she leaned on a chunk of stone that was part of some Roman ruin.

“Then you agree?” His voice caught in his throat and he stuttered ”S-S-Sword and B-B-Buckler.”

“A counter offer, if you lose you wash my horse.” She replied and drew her sword.
Everyone in both companies knew how temperamental her majestic Black mare “Selene” was. Only Lucrezia herself could really manage her, she treated almost everyone else with open hostility but so far no one had suffered and permanent damage.

“Agreed.” He replied with a sort of resignation. He knew it wouldn’t be that easy to impress her.
The prize was worth the risk to Adelardi and he smacked his sword against his shield signaling he was ready. Lucrezia took her time, playing with him parrying with sword and shield, landing hits on Adelardi’s plate mail coat and the ring of steel echoed through the warm spring air.

She drove him back, exactly as he planned. He surprised her with a sudden offensive driving her back closer and closer to a slippery patch of mud. She knew it was there, she sidestepped and put him back on the defensive. Both rained blows down on the other’s buckler, cutting and thrusting steel scraping on steel. She was enjoying this, the man was good with a sword, good enough that she wouldn’t mind giving him his prize if it came to that but she would make him work for it.

“Come Now Angelo, surely you can do better than this?” She was only teasing, she liked her men, and there had been many in her years of campaigning, fiery and with tongues as sharp as the best swords money could buy.
“Then I will take my prize for the glory of Il Falco Nero!” He fired back proudly showing his loyalty to his company.

“Bene.”

They were both enjoying this, Adelardi so much that he let his guard down for just a second too long.

CLANG!

She slammed her buckler into his head and he saw stars. He stumbled but kept on fighting, working through his pain and doing the same to her before collapsing into the mud. She wobbled for a moment but stayed upright long enough to claim her victory. She sank to her knees falling into the mud right next to him.

“For giving me the best challenge in a long time.” She grabbed Angelo Adelardi’s face in both of her mailed hands and pulled him into a deep, savage kiss. It went on for close to a minute, but to the young Condotierro it felt like an eternity of fulfilled dreams. She pulled away leaving them both gasping for air.

“You still lost. Selene is waiting for you- comb her mane to the right and be careful of her teeth, she likes to bite sometimes.” She shoved him back into the mud and stumbled off, leaving him to wonder what had just happened.
She watched at a distance, sitting on a folding chair and snacking on a bowl of olives with a smile on her face. She’d quite enjoy watching him make a fool of himself.  
Angelo Adelardi slowly approached Selene with a carrot and soothing words. “Easy Selene… You are so pretty… just like Lucrezia…”  The horse snorted once and let him squeeze the soap filled sponge onto her mane.
Her mistress watched all of this, stunned at how little Selene reacted to this stranger.  Angelo finished, combing her mane to the right and retying the black ribbon she wore around her tail.
He pulled his shirt back on, much to her disappointment and returned Selene. “There- it is done.” He said and went back to his own tent.  
“So… you like this one…” She murmured and scratched her beloved mare’s nose. “That man just became far more interesting…”