Chapter 1 Impetuous

"Mother, you know that I do not care what ever you say! I'll go riding anyway! I don't know why you keep bothering me because I'll do it no matter what!" The beautiful raven haired girl argued with her mother while she dressed up in the most indecorous fashion to ride.

"But Leila, for God's Sake! At least get dressed like a lady... as the daughter of the Count of Swabia that you are! You better wear a loose dress or a long hooded tunic if you plan to ride by the hills. It's cold and windy outside. If you insist of going out wearing such a tight and masculine outfit, at least put on a cape." The Countess was about to have a heart attack to see her only daughter tightening the belt to her waist. The short white  and see through wool tunic she had on didn't let a lot to the imagination, revealing a square and open cleavage. The trousers, in the most obvious manly style, impregnated to the sumptuous curves of her hips.

The hysterical mother appalled to the point of breaking down, while Leila accommodated her round breasts in a very indecent manner in front of the full body sized oval mirror in the dormitory. Followed, she adjusted a mid waist corset making her waist thinner and her breasts pop out even more. And after braiding her long and straight dark hair, she contemplated herself in the mirror with pride.

Leila was a stunning teenager. Her now womanly sculpted body reflected almost perfect on the crystal. Like a medieval Amazon, the trousers were just the most fitting piece to trace the form of her long legs cut by the calves by a pair of black leather boots. She knew and smiled self satisfied to her looks. Her big almond shaped onyx eyes vivid and coquettish looked then the reflection of her mortified mother behind her as she continued with the loud preaching.

"What is all this scandal about woman?! I can hear you screaming down to the living area." The count entered to the alcove in that precise moment.

"Scandal you say Bruce? Scandal is the one your daughter will provoke if she goes outside dressing like a man! This conceited daughter of yours is going to bring death to me one of these days."

"Leila, please. How many times I've told you to stop upsetting your mother... Alright, let see, where are you riding today?" A smiling count held with tenderness Leila's hand. In the back, the Countess was fuming observing her spineless husband.

"Oh my dear father", Leila spoke in a childish tone as she hugged and kissed the Count. "You know that I always ride bordering the woods towards the hills where I can see Lake Constanza. I don't get why Mother fusses, you both know how much I love mounting.

"What I disapprove is not that you mount, is that you do it without chaperone and dressed like that", the mother protested.

"I don't see anything wrong with these clothes. Or what do you prefer, that I ride a horse with a dress showing my underskirts!" Leila beamed her mother a defiant look.

"Leila!"

"Mother!"

"Bertha! Enough with this nonsense!" The Count interfered.

"But, Bruce... Haven't you heard how your daughter has disrespected me?" The woman reacted with indignation.

"Woman, please, let the girl ride in peace. She does no harm wearing trousers instead. In fact it is more appropriate if you ponder it. Imagine me wearing a ruffled skirt as I mount my stallion. Everyone would be able to see my hairy calves", Lord Bruce cracked after the funny image blinking fatherly to his daughter.

"You only spoil her Bruce. One of these days you will see how your pampering a will end", defeated, the countess left the room professing a litany down the hall.

"Thank you! You're the best father in the world! I love you." Leila kissed and hugged her dad who surrendered under his only daughter's whims.

Leila briskly rode Black, her white mare. As she accustomed in doing always the opposite, she named the animal this way when Lord Bruce gave it as a birthday present when she turned ten and six. From that moment on, the mare, as impetuous as its owner, and the lady became inseparable friends. Leila and Black left the castle once more in their morning ride.

The daughter of the Count of Argengau in the Swabia region, enjoyed her leisure strolls up and downwards the nearby lands around the castle. She didn't venture too far away because she disliked to mix with the plebe in the contiguous villages. The young lady detested the maliciously intended gossiping of the people as she passed by. The stench of cheap mead and urine in the dusty roads revolved her stomach.

Leila was impulsive, of rebellious spirits and an independent character and that mortified her mother and drove her suitors away, who were a lot  as a matter of facts. But the beautiful lady didn't think of arranged marriages neither in crying and snotty babies to take care of or to breastfeed. No, that wasn't for hers. And even though she was in the age of marriage, she rejected every one based on stupid pretexts to avoid the most feared step. Leila didn't see herself secluded behind the prison of matrimony and social boring precepts that forced a woman to become a property, a slave and less than a animal only used by husbands for breeding.

That morning, the sun shone with subtle candor over the hills. Different shades of silky and shamrock green dressed the valley. In the distance, the higher mountains were painted in purple and bluish tones scraping with their rocky fingers the immensity of the sky. Leila observed the birds flying wishing to be like them, free and capable of spreading their wings in the wind.

The braid in the back of Leila's head disheveled with the breeze blowing on her face as she rode. Her sun kissed cheeks turned rosy and she smiled enjoying the freedom of the moment. She approached to the first rows of trees in the canopy of the woods, but she wouldn't bestride under the shade, instead Leila chose to border the woods towards the top of the hill.

Black halted to her rider's command right on top of the not to steep mound. There the maiden admired the vastness of the Swabia Sea as the lake was known colloquially. Thinking of the place, she never understood the locals absurdity in calling a sea a sweet water body, but the people in the southern regions of the empire were notorious for their stubbornness and a particular way of doing things, most of the times banned by the church and prosecuted by the king.

The breeze brought with it the perfume of the flowers from the valley. It smelled like daffodils and peonies, of grass and dew. The oak trees and the willows blooming broke the chartreuse monochrome landscape adding bits of color and the pines emerged majestically over the thick forest canopy. From the cliffy vantage point, Leila smiled staring at the breathtakingly view. The blue sky mirrored on the placid surface of the lake, where fishing boats, tiny white spots moved slowly above the tranquil waters. In the distance surrounding villages were nothing more than groups of colorful dots perfectly placed circling the lake and along the Rhine's basin.

A golden warm sun shone high in the sky marking the continuous march of the hours. It was close to noon and time to go back home. This time, Leila knew it was better to riptide under the cool shadow that provided the trees. "Go, Black!" Leila kicked softly the mare's sides and the animal galloped down the hill obediently.

The pretty countess and the beast advanced through the woods until they arrived to a shallow stream. After dismounting the horse, the woman tied the ropes to the stem of a tree by the river's bank. The rumbling water course flowed over the dark polished stones. There, Leila kneeled and leaned to drink some water and clean her face. Sitting over the green carpet of clovers, the raven haired lady watched the colorful fish as they being carried down the river, more than by  their own choice.

"Look at these little fish my dear Black. They are hauled by the waters, forced to move where the stream takes them. Maybe they want to swim upstream, but they can't. They will be carried to reach a certain place God knows where and they will pair to have a thousand more fish that will be carried away without a reason... A meaningless life, not able of taking their own decisions". Leila sighed with inconformity. "I don't want to be like them Black. I refuse to be dragged by the murky waters of society. Why can't I be like the other girls, the commoners... or like a man? I want to swim upstream and take my own decisions. I want to discover what lies beyond the place where the river is born, where we can't reach because of preconceived circumstances."

Staring with a mixture on pity and hopelessness to her mare, the countess began to untie her leather boots ready to dip her feet in the water when she heard someone clearing his throat behind her. She stood up immediately to find there was a man staring at her... a strikingly handsome man.

Leila stood there only looking at him, speechless. There was something in that man, his bearing and presence that made her feel uneasy but in the same time unusually attracted to him. His straight and dark brown hair fell posing freely over his broad shoulders. A pair of bright green eyes glistened with traces of yellow almost like a feline hypnotizing her. An angular squared face and his thin aquiline nose told Leila he was a foreigner. On his lips curved up a sensual smile while a thread of dry blood left a dark red trail in the commissure of his mouth.

"Oh no you're bleeding!" In the most innocent and entrusted way, Leila extended her hand to clean with her own fingers the blood on the stranger's lips.

He held her wrist and stopped her, retreating a bit. The young lady contained herself, now a little bit more conscious of her imprudence. Both stared at each other, their eyes locking for a few seconds.

"No, signorina, per favore... It is only a scratch. I fell down from mio cavallo and the hellish beast ran away", the man spoke in his marvelous Italian accent while walking towards the stream to clean his mouth.

Leila followed every one of his movements with close attention, in silence standing by the river's bank. He turned to face her and his still wet hair and face made him look even more appealing. The dripping water damped his white tunic impregnating the thin fabric to his fitted pectorals. Thunderstruck, the lady admired the fierce perfection of his body and he teased her with a playful smile knowing what he provoked on her.

She didn't know what to do, what to say or where to look. Under normal circumstances, any other girl would have run if ever met a stranger in the woods, but Leila didn't want to run. Nothing in that man inspired fear or danger. It was more an indescribable physical attraction beyond her understanding.

"Is your dwelling near these woods, mia bella?" He closed the gap between them.

"Yes." It was everything Leila was able to say. Her nerves betrayed her badly.

"Don't fear, milady. I am a friend. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Leonardo... Leonardo Draccomondi".

****Wohooooo! First chapter up! Please forgive typos or grammar misspells. Translations can be a headache. I hope you liked this first part. Feel free to comment and if you want to press that orange star, that will make my writer's heart smile.