Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

---

---

 

---

 
The Legal Stuff: Emerald Princess © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Chapter 45: Preparations

I RUBBED MY eyes as I woke up in my crib in Caireen’s castle. I felt sore as I pushed myself to my feet and discovered my diaper was already messy. Tired and frustrated, I gave into my inner infant and began crying for Caireen. Fortunately, she didn’t make me wait long before she hugged me in her arms. “Shh…” she bounced me gently in her arms as she walked to the changing table and laid me down. My nightgown was pulled over my head, and she pulled down the cover on the destroyed cloth diaper. The pins were removed, and she soon had my butt suspended in the air as she wiped everything clean.

She cooed at me as she did so, and I was soon in a fresh diaper and a dress. Caireen carried me over to the rocking chair. She hummed a tune as she pulled the bodice of her dress away from her breast. I looked hungrily at her nipple and realized how much I missed Hannah! I latched on and nursed, was burped, switched, and burped again in the routine that had become normal.

“Better?” She asked me as she sat me on her knee.

I shrugged, “I guess…?”

“Why don’t we take the morning and just have you play like a normal little girl,” she told me.

I had a thought, “Could I play in my treehouse?”

She looked thoughtfully for a moment, “That’s probably not a good idea, Princess; let’s stay inside the castle until we get through with the crisis?”

I pouted but nodded. Caireen sat me on the floor next to my toys, and I began playing with Emie and a couple of other dolls. I could now do way more than change their clothes! I adjusted some of their faces and eyes to make them more lifelike before having a tea party with them. It was nice to not be stressed about the outside world for a while, and I totally missed when I messed my diaper again until Caireen gathered me up and changed me.

“Time for lunch, and then we have a meeting and some more training to do,” she told me.

I sighed as she wiped me, ‘A week ago, I’d probably have given anything to not play like a baby… right now, I’d settle for getting all day to play with Lily.’

I felt sad as she carried me downstairs. It was sobering as I realized how much I missed my family, Hannah, and ‘normal’ life. She squeezed me tight as she carried me into a formal dining hall I’d never eaten in. The walls were covered with gilded frame paintings, tapestries, and large curtains draped everywhere. The table looked to have been created from the very top of a giant tree limb, with a massive bottom that expanded in branches to the leveled top. The top was smooth and varnished to the point that it looked like it could have been glass!

Ornate chairs sat all along the long table, and there were a dozen of Caireen’s generals and ten other strangers. They all rose and gave low bows or curtseys as she walked to her seat. I was set down in my ornate highchair that had been placed next to her chair. I noted that, unlike modern highchairs, there were no safety straps to hold me in! It was plushly padded, though, and I liked the comfortable me-sized seat as she pushed me closer to use the table for my food.

She sat in her own chair and said, “Please, be seated.”

I had grown so accustomed to eating baby food or nursing from her most of the time in her world that it was a novelty to just have small portions of the grown-up dishes here. I learned that several Dukes and their Duchess wives had arrived in the last couple of days. They were all retreating from their lands before Camulus could attack. Caireen had given the order a day ago that we had to consolidate here at the castle if we were to have a chance to take on his forces. It was clear they were not pleased about it, but it was also equally clear that they knew their survival dictated that decision.

“How go the fortifications on the south side?” Caireen asked one of her generals.

“Slowly but surely. We have plenty of manpower, but quarrying the stone we need is taking more time than I fear we have.”

I looked up at Caireen and tugged on her sleeve. She leaned her head down, “Can I help with magic somehow?”

She smiled and patted me on the head, “That wasn’t supposed to be your lesson for today, but it would be a good one!”

The Generals had gotten used to me not following the ‘children must be seen, not heard’ mantra of their culture. However, the three Duchesses down the table seemed scandalized that I would dare speak at the table.

Caireen glared at them when one whispered, “Why does she have the babe here anyway? She’s not even old enough to have weaned yet!” Made it to the front of the table.

“Because I am the Crown Princess,” I opened my mouth. “I have every right to be here! It’s my fate that brought about King Camulus being a fool and attacking us.”

Caireen patted my head, “My daughter is, of course, correct. She has the right to be here, Duchess O’Cleirigh.” She stared her down, “You, however, are not necessary if you continue to display the poor manners you accuse my daughter of!” I glared at the Duchess in question, and she looked away. Another way down the table smirked at the rebuke, and I wondered if she might be a better person to talk to at some point. She looked younger, barely out of her teens, but I noted her husband was probably close to my parent’s age. I turned my gaze back to Caireen, who looked at the generals, “Princess Sofia and I will come and assist you this afternoon as part of her instruction.”

“Your Majesty, it may not be safe out of the castle walls…?”

“Can’t be any worse than what I’ve faced within.” I meant to say inside my head, but my tongue slipped.

“Sofia!” Caireen rebuked me.

“Sorry,” I told her.

She sighed, “I think we’ll be fine if it’s today. Please ensure we have an entourage of guards that can protect us. I hope we can make some headway on fortifications to slow their army down. If we can cause them to break their forces on a wall and pick off some of them, we may yet hold them off.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the general said. He waived an aide to come over and gave orders to prepare our guards.

I nibbled on a small cake slice as Caireen discussed the upcoming war. Then, after a final look around the table, she told the generals, “We’ll depart in a half-hour; I need to see to Princess Sofia first.”

She stood and picked me up, and everyone else stood and waited patiently as she carried me out. A trip to my nursery was quickly made, and the soaked diaper was removed before she said, “Do you have any room in your tummy still?”

I looked at her and nodded.

“Let’s feed you some proper milk then, and we’ll get going.”

She nursed me from her breasts, and I felt the comfort in the act that had once just been embarrassing. ‘I really miss Hannah!’ I thought again. ‘I’ll never complain about nursing from her again!’

When I was done, she made sure there was a bag packed with some changes for me before we exited the castle. Outside troops were on horseback. She handed me to a woman and then hopped onto a horse herself. I was surprised that she wasn’t riding a side saddle to protect her modesty, but I didn’t say anything as I was handed up and placed in front of her.

My eyes widened at the gigantic beast below me. I clung tightly to the edge of the saddle in front of me as Caireen set the horse into motion slowly, and then soon, we were at full gallop! After a while, my terror became glee, and I decided it was kind of fun! We soon stopped at an area where men were trying to build a wall with earth and boulders across the road to the castle.

Her top-ranking general took me from her and set me on the ground as I looked around at probably a thousand men and boys working on building the wall. I felt a bit of a twist in my stomach in the hopes that these were all volunteers…

“Your Majesty, what is your plan here?” The general asked as she stood next to me.

“Give us a few minutes, and you’ll see. Go ahead and clear the workers back to this side of the barricade.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said and gave orders to some officers who spread the order.

“So, this will be your lesson today,” Caireen told me, kneeling beside me. “You can still feel the main ley line, right?”

I nodded, “Yes?”

“Good, you’ll need all of that manna available! Now…” she gave me an explanation and a thirty-minute lesson on the principle that would let me magically create a solid barrier. She had me not only visualize the wall but also a gateway that could be solidly closed when needed as well. Then, with all that in mind, she said, “Go ahead and try Sofia.”

Thinking back to a certain green character about ‘size matters not,’ I looked at the earth before me. I visualized how to bring it up from the ground beneath. Moments later, the ground began shaking as a fifty-foot-thick wall of black granite rose in a line from the edge of the valley, upwards of one-hundred-and-fifty feet. To divert the river that ran through the valley, I visualized a complex culvert that went down into the ground sixty feet, wound around, and finally rejoined the waterway on the other side. It would create a small pond, too, that might help if we needed a water supply. It wouldn’t dangerously flood, but it would keep anyone from swimming upstream through it and getting to this side. I carefully made grates and other covers that didn’t impede the water. Still, it would discourage anyone from sending a bomb or something like that through it to this side.

I took care to visualize a gate of a solid piece of granite that would drop with the simple pull of a lever to completely seal off the entrance. A traditional wooden door and metal gate were added just for extra aesthetic points in my mind. At the top of the long wall, I visualized five separate towers that could be used to spot the enemy and placed embrasures all along the wall to protect our archers. Staircases were placed strategically at points for men to climb and retreat from the wall as needed.

For good measure, I added a sign that no one could see from our side: Come and Take It! I thought it was an appropriate saying to borrow from Texas.

I felt my strength wane and stumbled to the ground, but Caireen caught me. All the men and boys around me stood in shock for a moment. Then, almost as one, they all knelt and bowed their heads. I found myself waving at them as Caireen told the General, “She should be able to do the other side of the valley tomorrow. After that, we’ll see if she has any other ideas.”

“My word… Princess Sofia did that by herself?” I looked at him, staring at me in awe.

She hugged me, “Yep, my baby girl is much more capable than she may seem.”

Caireen carried me over to some shade and laid out a blanket. I was, at that point, just tired and exhausted enough I couldn’t hardly keep my eyes open. “Let’s get you changed, fed, and then I think that’s probably about all your pretty little eyes will stay open for today!”

I numbly nodded with a feeling of pride in what I had accomplished. The castle sat in a valley with steep cliffs around it, and the only approach was the road from the north or the south that followed the canyon the river had carved out. I sat still as she changed a very stinky diaper. ‘I must have done that with all the energy I used?’ I wondered. I mentally shrugged; I had no control, and it wasn’t something to dwell on.

Caireen was soon exposing her breasts to me again, and I gulped not only milk, but also the extra manna she shared with me in those moments. Soon I fell blissfully asleep!

 
 

THE NEXT THING I knew I heard a noise around the room. Camille’s mom was working on her hair and noticed that I sat up in bed next to the still-sleeping Camille. She walked over to me and picked me up, “Ready to wake up?” she whispered to me as I noted the sounds of the shower going.

I shrugged in response as she felt the diaper underneath my nightgown. “Why don’t we change that wet diapee and see if you want to stay awake or not?”

I nodded and watched as she grabbed my backpack. She looked inside and shook her head, seeing the larger compartments. She pulled out one of my diapers, wipes, and the changing pad and laid it all out on top of a large dresser. She picked me up and lay me down on the pad. I could tell she’d had plenty of recent practice with diapers as she quickly but gently changed the wet diaper. “You want to go back to bed?” she asked me.

I shook my head, “Maybe I can look at my homework…? I figure the cat’s out of the bag with me not being a baby with Cassidy now?”

She softly giggled, “Sort of… but you’re right, no point in you pretending to be a normal baby right now where we’re staying.”

I nodded and let her set me down on the couch that was in the living room area. She placed my backpack next to me, and I dug inside for my Mythical Fundamentals book and placed it next to me. I saw my phone in the front pocket and pulled it out to find dozens of worried messages from Hannah and my parents. I felt guilty and looked at the time. It was still a bit early to text Hannah, but I sent her a message to see if she was up. My parents were probably up, but I didn’t want to wake Cassidy by talking on the phone with them. It was also early enough I knew they were probably both just getting around. Mom was probably enjoying a quiet cup of coffee before Lily woke up.

I sighed, feeling increasingly homesick about my family back home as the phone lit and showed a reply from Hannah.

‘OMG, are you okay?!?’ Hannah asked me.

‘Yes, I think my body healed overnight.’

Dots showed her typing, and I waited for her response, ‘What exactly happened? The news said that there was an explosion…?’

I spent the next ten minutes texting her back and forth while also trying to study some. The crazy memory I had now meant I had accomplished some studying before Camille’s dad came out of the shower. Her mom asked me, “Sofia, do you want a shower? Or a bath?”

I looked at my body and felt some stiffness still. My hair felt kind of off too, so I nodded.

“Which one?”

I knew what teenage me would say, but I found myself saying, “A bath please?”

“Okay, give me a few minutes, and I’ll run the water for you,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks,” I told her.

She came out for me a moment later, and I saw the bathtub had some bubbles. She pulled my diaper and nightgown off before gently setting me inside. I watched her look torn, “What’s wrong?”

“Umm… I know in my mind that you’re a teenager like my daughter…?”

“But I’m also a baby?”

She nodded, “Should I go ahead and wash you?”

I shrugged, “I don’t mind if you want to. It’s up to you, though. I can handle it myself if you would prefer I do so.”

I felt Caireen nudge a bit against that option, but I didn’t want her mom to be uncomfortable. “I would actually prefer to stay,” she said, “sorry… it would make me feel more comfortable to give you the bath?”

I smiled, “That’s fine; I’m used to it now. I haven’t had a bath on my own since I emerged.”

Camille’s mom was gentle as she washed me from head to toe. Even though my hair had been cleaned the other day, she found some remnants of the exploded dinner last night and scrubbed my hair with baby shampoo twice. As she was doing so, I felt tears prickle in my eyes.

“Oh, Sofia, what’s wrong? This is no tear shampoo?” She asked nervously.

I shook my head and wondered what was wrong before I found myself saying, “I miss my mommy!”

Somehow my baby brain tripped, and I began crying uncontrollably as she pulled me from the water and swaddled me in a towel. She bounced and cooed at me for a long while before taking me out to the main room. I could see through my tear-filled eyes that Camille was sitting up in bed. “Camille, would you get her a baba?”

She looked startled but nodded, and soon I was propped in the crook of Camille’s mom’s arm with her holding a warm bottle of milk to my lips. I didn’t hesitate and began quickly nursing it. Somehow Hannah’s milk made me feel like she was there, and I started feeling better as I began sucking at the empty bottle. “Do you need another one?” her mom asked me.

I thought for a moment before nodding, “Please?”

Luckily Camille hadn’t gotten in the bathroom yet, so she presented her mom with another bottle and took the empty one. I nursed at the second one much slower, feeling each pull of milk making me calmer. At some point, I must have dozed off.

 
 

Thank you for reading! Please press the ‘Like’ Button if you’ve enjoyed it! I would really really really appreciate it you would leave one! I do really appreciate the Kudos button, but please consider leaving a comment if you’re reading? Some of you are doing a fine job of commenting, and I really do appreciate it! Please keep up the good work! New commentators are always loved too!!!! I will fully admit to feeling neglected when there’s none…? (Pretty Please? With a cherry on top?!?)

I am now posting this on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday for the remainder of the chapters.

If you're someone who must finish a good story 'now,' consider purchasing the full book on Amazon Kindle! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTBTTGX1 I will be posting a chapter about every other day until the complete 62 Chapters and the Epilogue are reposted.