The Conquistador Ch. 01

"Good man, more rum." Cortes said, waving a hand at the tavernkeeper's boy as he passed by the table. The boy held up three fingers. "Yes, three, go." He said as he waved him away. He wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his sleeve - it was a blistering hot day in Santiago.

"The rum is bad for you when it's hot." said Pedro, sat across and to the right of Cortes.

"The rum isn't hot - I am." Cortes smiled.

"You know that's not what I meant." Pedro replied.

"If it's too hot for you I'll drink it." Cortes laughed, earning a small chuckle from Alonso, the third man at the table.

"Can we focus please?" Pedro asked, leaning back in his chair.

"I am focussed. But it's hot as fuck out here, and I want a drink. Besides, we're as ready as we're going to be." Cortes leaned to look towards where the bar's owner stood behind his counter, and shouted "I'm roasting to death! Vamanos!"

Beads of sweat ran down Cortes' face and he was flushed red.

"You're hot because you're drunk, that'll only make it worse." Pedro said.

"Shut it."

Pedro threw his hands up in surrender. The tavern boy brought three more tankards of the establishment's rum punch. Cortes held up his mug, and motioned the two men to do the same. "To governor Velazquez and Imperator Romanum by the grace of God Charles the first and second and fifth and all of his other fucking titles." The three men knocked tankards together, Cortes laughed at his own speaking, and they drank.

Cortes groaned and put a hand over his face, resting the adjoining elbow on the table. "Alonso, recite it all again, where are we?"

"Aye Captain-General. We've six ships fully fitted, three hundred men capable of manning the ships and bearing arms, and weapons for... most of them. Supplies should last us the entire journey, even with major delays."

"And the rumours from Juan?"

"My agents can't seem to dispel or confirm them, but knowing your history with Velazquez I would assume that they're true. You could always ask your wife."

"She knows almost nothing about what her brother-in-law thinks."

"Then bank on them being correct."

"I would agree with Alonso." Pedro cut in. Cortes looked up at him with a confused glance that lasted for only a split second, as if he had forgotten that Pedro was there until he had spoken again.

Cortes' mind swam. The oppressive heat and the multiple tankards of rum hadn't helped in the slightest - they only made his mind struggle more against himself as he tried to think, like cart wheels stuck in the mud, they just spun and spun, digging themselves deeper in. The commission from the governor had come only a month before, naming Cortes captain-general and instructing him to raise and lead an expedition to the mainland in the name of King Charles. Juan de Grijalva had founded a colony on the mainland and was reporting an empire of heathens sitting on mountains of gold and silver. This report had so fired the colony of Cuba and its governor Velazquez, that he wanted Cortes to sail as soon as possible to get his hands on a cut. It had been a month of intense activity, but the captain-general now sat on a decently sized expedition of men and ships. Word had reached him however that the governor was now rethinking his choice of Cortes to lead the expedition.

With the prospect of mountains of gold and silver, Cortes was chomping at the bit to go - he was deeply, deeply in debt, and a successful venture to the mainland could solve his financial problems not just for him, but for his descendants - forever.

He was awash with anxiety. He needed the rum to keep his fear at bay, but the rum handicapped his thinking, which he needed if he was to launch a successful voyage, and the thoughts of the voyage being unsuccessful only increased his anxiety and threw him right back onto the rum. He had been in a near fever-delirium these past three days as the expedition had finally seemed to materialize, seemed so close to becoming real, and had finally become something that could be snatched away.

"Sir?" Cortes heard Pedro say, and felt something bumping into his shins - Pedro was prodding him gently with his foot.

"Huh? What?" Cortes said, snapping out of his rumination and looking up at the two men in front of him. There was now a young boy standing between them, somewhere in his teens. He was sweating and partially out of breath, seemingly having run to the tavern from somewhere.

"Señor Alcalde" The boy said. "There is a lady at your office." The boy held out a sweaty scrap of paper. Cortes took it and glanced over it, it was a note from one of his secretaries.

The lady de Olid is here and refuses to leave until she "Speaks directly to the Captain-General." Will do as you command, reply by the boy.

Cortes read over the note a second time and a third time, sat back in his chair, and crumpled the note in one hand, tossing it into the centre of the table. He looked at the boy.

"They said to wait until you had a reply for me to carry, senor."

"And what are you doing right now?"

The boy stammered, looked down at the ground. "Waiting."

"Hmm." Cortes said, then heaved a deep breath and drank from his tankard again. He drummed his fingers on the table, sighed again, then pushed himself up from the table with a broad grin.

"Pedro, push your agents, I want to know exactly what Velazquez is planning - I don't care if you're subtle or not. Alonso - go fetch captain de Olid."

"And bring him where, captain-general?" Alonso asked.

"To the office of the Alcalde of course." Cortes smiled.

"You, boy, are free to go, I will go directly to my office." The messenger boy bowed jerkily and hastily, and ran from the tavern, eager to get away.

Cortes walked out of the tavern, stumbling slightly as he walked from the table, and groaning at the sunlight as he walked into the day. The port of Santiago was burning hot in the early afternoon. Every Spaniard was out of the sun, leaving only the Indios still out and about, lazily shuffling around the city. The laughter of drunk men in the shade, the hushed chattering of women at their windows, the squawking of gulls at the harbour, and the further away sound of a military drum were the only sounds above those of Cortes' boots as he walked through the street.

Through the gaps in the buildings he could see his six ships sitting at anchor in the port, rolling quietly and softly on the afternoon waves. The light glinted off the polished metal fittings of the ships, lighting them up as though they burned with the fire of the sun. The office of the Alcalde was only a short walk from the tavern, but he was sweating even worse by the time he arrived.

He entered through a hidden door in the back of the building - built for the purpose of avoiding crowds, and called for a rag and a bowl of water from the cellar the moment he got into his office. He drank half the bowl, soaked his head with the rest, and wiped as much sweat off of him as he could with the rag before throwing it into the corner of the room.

A secretary peaked into the door of his office.

"Senor."

"Where is she?"

"In the hall."

"Did she say what she wants?"

"Only that she won't leave until she speaks to you."

"Bring wine, and show her in."

The secretary nodded and departed, leaving Cortes to look over his desk. There were a few unopened letters on it, which he took his knife and unsealed. He glanced over them as his secretary returned with a bottle of wine. All of the letters were minor affairs, things that didn't require his attention, but he read them over and over, every time he finished a letter realizing that he hadn't paid any attention to it.

He went to pour himself a glass of wine and started slightly to see that the Lady de Olid had quietly been shown into the room and was standing in front of his desk, hands clasped in front of her. She was a beautiful woman, wearing a light dress along with her hair down, both of them to cover her skin from the sun and still allow it room to breathe. She was a headstrong woman, wife of one of his chief captains and supporters, and he had often found his eyes drawn to her at dinners and events.

"Good afternoon Lady de Olid."

"Senor Captain-General."

"What do you want?"

"Straight to the point, I like that."

"Yes. Much unlike you." Cortes pushed the bottle of wine across his desk and gestured to it. The Lady de Olid stepped forward, poured herself a glass, and sat in one of the chairs fronting the desk. "I don't believe I said you could sit."

"A Lady is welcome to the things she's entitled to without asking."

Cortes raised his eyebrows and exhaled the hint of laughter from his nose.

"I don't want my husband to leave on your expedition."

"No? Too lonely at home without him?"

"I love him and I don't want him dead." She retorted. "I understand that might be hard to understand given your home life."

"I always enjoy the company of a fierce woman." Cortes laughed, and took another sip of his wine. "Well. This conversation could have been a letter. What are you offering in exchange for my dismissing him?"

There was a nearly imperceptible twitch in the face of the Lady de Olid. "I had a feeling there would be a price. The necklace I'm wearing is worth fifteen hundred reales."

Cortes looked down at her chest - she was wearing a beautifully shining golden necklace set with a few small, dazzling gems. He noticed more than anything the way in which the necklace was raised from her body ever so gently by the beginning of the slope of her breasts.

"Fifteen hundred for the release of one of my finest captains?" Cortes said, standing from his seat and slowly walking to stand behind the Lady de Olid. He rested his hands on her shoulders and felt her twitch ever so slightly - felt her suck in the tiniest gasp of air.

"Captain-General..."

"I'll take the necklace along with the body it's draped around." Cortes said, reaching downwards as if to grasp the necklace, but carrying on down the top of the lady's dress and grabbing her breast, he felt the hardness of her nipple as he gently squeezed it between his fingers.

"Captain-general, I..." the Lady de Olid wrapped her hands around Cortes' wrist and grasped firmly, as if to pull him away.

"You want him left behind or no?" Cortes whispered, grasping her breast firmly.

"Yes... but..." the Lady stammered, the grip of her hands softening. "But here? How could that be pleasurable for you, Captain-general?"

"Trust me when I say that all of the pleasure I'm going to get from this has nothing to do with what I do to you, but only from the fact that I can." Cortes whispered.

He grabbed the Lady de Olid under her arms and lifted her to her feet. She let out a small gasp but didn't resist. He pushed her against the front of his desk and bent her over it, grabbing her dress and chemise together and throwing it up onto her back - exposing her tanned, sweaty, glistening skin and pussy to his eyes. He smiled gleefully as he untied the strings of his pants and fished his cock out from his braies, where it had been straining painfully against the fabric since the moment the Lady de Olid sat down.

"By God look how wet you were just sitting there. What a whore the Lady de Olid is - I wish I'd known this sooner.." He said as he rubbed her pussy, she was soaking wet, partially from the heat of the afternoon and partially from the fact she had largely feared the meeting would end this way. She had feared it, but the fear had only served to heighten how aroused she felt, as though the fear and arousal in her brain had forgotten which was which.

Cortes gave his cock a few quick pumps before he lined his cock up with the entrance of her pussy, eased himself slightly in, then grabbed her by the hips and thrust himself all the way into her. She bit on one of her fingers to stifle a moan.

"I hope you're good at keeping quiet, your husband should be arriving at the building any minute now." Cortes said, twisting his hand into the Lady's raven dark hair and pulling her towards him so he could whisper into her ear.

She turned to look at him, eyes opening wide in shock, but he merely twisted her hair so that she could do nothing but stare straight down at the desk. He was thrusting with everything he had, enjoying every inch of the Lady de Olid's pussy, grunting softly against the yielding tightness, as she kept as silent as possible with each thrust, the sharp inhaling and exhaling of breath the only giveaway that she could barely contain herself.

"It's a good thing myself and Captain de Olid look so similar, isn't it?" Cortes said, releasing her hair and grasping her by the hips again. He felt his orgasm building deep inside of him, and with three more aggressive thrusts, he buried himself in her as far as he could, feeling her feet curl off the floor in pleasure as he shot rope after rope of cum inside of her.

Cortes panted for breath as he let his softening cock slide out of her. He tied himself back up, pulled her dress and chemise down again, and with her still lying panting, motionless, and red-faced on the desk, reached up to her neck and unfastened her necklace. He tossed it onto the pile of letters and poured himself another glass of wine.

"Get off my desk." Cortes said with a wave of his hand.

The Lady de Olid pushed herself from the desk and sat back down. Her breath was beginning to steady as she attempted to fix her hair and compose herself. Luckily, with how hot it was that day, nobody would question someone sweating indoors or red in the face.

"Captain-general?" Came a shout from the hallway. It was the voice of Captain Alonso.

"What?" Cortes shouted back.

"Captain de Olid here for you."

"Come in, both of you!" Cortes shouted, and the two men entered, dressed in light linens with broad hats and swords on their hips. The two men saluted as they entered - and Cortes flicked his eyes to the Lady de Olid, watching her take a deep breath and put her typical smouldering expression on her face.

"You asked for me, captain-general?" Captain de Olid said.

"Indeed I did. Tell me captain, what are your thoughts on our expedition?"

"I greatly look forward to it, captain-general, why do you ask?"

"I've just been offered fifteen hundred reales to dismiss you from my service you see." Cortes said with a smile, holding the gold necklace up in the air. The Lady de Olid's eyes opened wide first with shock then blazed with a furious anger. Her husband, hand resting on the pommel of his sword, had a similarly shocked look on his face, and strode up to the desk. He looked down at his wife but she wouldn't meet his eyes.

"My love, this certainl-"

"Not here! Argue at home. And keep this." Cortes extended the necklace back across the desk, and the captain de Olid snatched it from his hand. "I leave the decision whether or not to join the expedition in the capable hands of the captain de Olid. Bring me the answer anytime before the fleet casts off."

"I'll give you the answer right now captain-general, I certainly shall be going!" The Captain de Olid said, casting a sidelong glance at his wife.

"Well, excellent. Get out, both of you. Your domestic squabbles are not my concern." Cortes waved a hand at the husband and wife. The captain grabbed his wife by the upper arm and left with her in tow. Cortes smirked as they left, wondering if there would be any cum stains left on the inside of her dress.

Alonso still stood in the doorway to the office. "You have a cunning glint in your eye, captain-general."

"Presumably." Cortes smiled. "Go away. You too."

Alonso left, and Cortes turned his attention back to ignoring the letters piling up on his desk.