by Drew Wagar
He was transfixed, unable to take his eyes from the predatory gaze upon her face, yet beguiled by the contours of her body on the edges of his vision.
She knelt down as she reached the bed, moving on to all fours, crawling across the covers. He fell back before her, pulling up the bedcovers around him. In a moment, she was poised above him.
They stared at each other for what might have been an age, before she reached down and pulled the bed covers to one side. He tried to resist for a moment, but she grabbed his hand, forcing it above his head and back against the pillows, leaning across him.
The sight of her breasts, small but firm, drew a gasp from him. Her hair, deep black and perfumed, brushed across his chest and face. She pulled back, the faintest of coy smiles upon her face.
Desire growing in him, he reached towards her with his other hand, but she caught that too, forcing his arms above his head. He struggled for a moment, half out of fear, half out of dislike of being trapped, but she shoved him down, the strength in her lithe body startling.
You are mine, Meru of Amar, mine!
Now straddling him, she ground her hips against him, drawing another gasp and a half-snatched breath from him. Her head came down next to his, her breath hot across his ear and neck. He felt her teeth scrape down from his cheekbone to his jaw as if she intended to bite him. She pressed against his chest, the warmth and scent from her body a heady cocktail of lust.
He turned his head, her lips brushing across his as he did so. He tried to kiss her, but each time he tried she pulled back just out of reach.
If you want me, tell me so.
He stared into her eyes. She was waiting, still poised above him.
He couldn’t articulate words.
Then her whole weight was upon him, her lips crushing into his to a point of violence. Both of them struggled, rolling and thrashing at each other in a lustful frenzy, the bedding flying unwanted around them, his clothing ripped away.
They twisted and turned, one atop and then the other, fighting for dominance, each trying to restrain the other long enough to gain control.
Breathless, Meru managed to pin Kiri down, but knew that she had let him do it. He likewise held her by the wrists, pinned against the bed. She was breathing heavily too, her chest rising and falling beneath him, accentuating her slight curves, but it was still her blue eyes that held him. She strained against him as if testing his strength. He pushed down harder.
So you do want me?
She relaxed under him, undulating her body.
Take me then, if you dare …
All thoughts of resistance evaporated. She knew he belonged to her, and he didn’t care.
Her legs wrapped around him, pulling him towards her, ever inwards. As he slipped into the intoxicating warmth of her body, he felt her slip into the yearning of his mind.
Zoella woke a second time. Her body ached and her head was a solid lump of pain, but the dizziness was gone. She stirred; something was brushing her face, a damp cloth. She opened her eyes.
She sat up, taking her time to do so, moaning as her muscles complained.
The girl was holding a cloth and a small earthenware bowl.
‘Thank you,’ Zoella said.
The girl nodded. Zoella sensed a question about how she felt. She smiled by return. That seemed to satisfy the girl. She made a hand gesture and pointed at Zoella.
‘Me? My name is Zoella.’
Zoella?
The word came back through her mind from the girl.
So she can hear me …
Zoella copied the gesture and pointed back at the girl.
There were brief flickers of images, snatches of childhood, views of the sands, the spires of the city and then …
Ira.
Zoella spoke it out loud.
‘Ira. You’re called Ira?’
The girl nodded.
‘Where are we?’ Zoella asked, looking around. ‘How long have I been asleep?’
With a flurry of images Zoella saw that they were at a lower level in the hall complex. They had slid down a tube between the levels. Somewhere along the line she had banged her head in the rush of escaping the guards.
‘You hide down here.’
Another nod.
Zoella sent an image of Meru.
‘My friend, I must find him …’
Ira recoiled, shaking her head, images of the guards appearing. Zoella shook her head, sending back images of Meru rescuing her from Viresia.
Ira frowned.
‘He’s not like them,’ Zoella said. ‘He’s my friend. I need to find him, he can help us escape from here. We have …’
She sent an image of the flying machine.
Ira gasped. The returned images were of the same vision Zoella had of the Obelisk.
She saw it too and the flying machine …
It took them some time, but Zoella managed to learn some of the gestures that Ira used, and Zoella taught her more words. Haltingly, they managed to communicate. Images and words were learnt, thoughts exchanged. Zoella’s eyes widened as she began to understand.
Meru woke, the unexpected warmth of Kiri’s body rousing him from his sleep. She was lying half across him, one arm draped across his chest, one leg curled across his. She was turned towards him, still asleep, her eyes closed, her dark hair half across her face. Her hand was clasped around his upper arm. The scent of her body was all about him.
He ran his own hand along her arm, feeling the softness but noting the thin white scars that peppered her skin. The left hand that clasped his arm bore an ugly mark, with roughen skin pulled tight about a wound now long healed. It was the hand she wore gloved. It was all evidence of the life she led. He ran his fingers over the scar, wondering how she had come by it.
His mind spun with the thought of her; she was wild, strong and lustful, yet somehow fragile and vulnerable at the same time.
What am I doing?
His mind was churning with thoughts. Kiri the priestess, the murderer of King and Prince, devoted to the destruction of his homeland, the ending of his people. She was here in Taloon to raise an army ready to sail across the sea and strike his homeland. She was his enemy …
But his heart rose up in defiance. Kiri the lover, Kiri the beautiful and irresistible, precious and unique. He alone held a special place in her heart. Beyond the fearsome fighter he alone had reached her softer side, seen her for who she truly was. He’d never felt this way about anyone.
She stirred against him, wriggling closer. He turned to look at her face. Asleep, it was relaxed, bereft of the scowl that was her habitual expression. He traced the line of one of her eyebrows with the tip of his finger, pushing her hair back.
He lay back, looking at the ceiling.
But what would my parents say, Coran, Mel … Zoella?
They wouldn’t understand. He didn’t understand himself. He was consorting with the enemy. This was madness. When she woke Kiri would laugh and scorn him, having found out what she wanted by probing his mind. Just a seduction. Maybe Kiri was doing this just to find out what he knew.
Maybe I am. But wasn’t it a little more pleasant than being tortured by the guards?
He jolted and turned in surprise. Kiri was gazing at him, a smile on her face. He looked into her blue eyes, lost within them once more. Her expression was soft and alluring.
She moved across him, her body pressing down on his, the warmth and scent of her overwhelming.
Forget them, you have me.
A languid kiss followed and they were lost together once more, their love-making softer and slower now, not the frenzy it had been. Beyond the captivation of his physical senses she placed images in his mind, some lurid, some subtle. Not only could he admire and caress her curves and feel the softness of her skin, but he could sense her wants as she guided him to fulfil her desires. She was still dominant, still aggressive and impatient at times, her mind and body long denied and insatiable.
Once their passion was complete, she lay across him
once more, her breathing fast and hot on his neck, pulling him into a tight embrace. It was a spell or more before she moved aside, rolling back to look at him.
He reached out to stroke her arm.
‘Like silk,’ he whispered, ‘yet strong.’
She bent her neck to kiss his hand, wriggling into his embrace.
‘I told you you’d be mine.’
Her body heat was still intoxicating; he could not help but run his hand over her lithe form. She sighed as he did so, moving closer once more.
So gentle, so demure … so unlike the warrior woman of before …
‘I never said thank you,’ Meru whispered to her. She looked at him. ‘For saving me from the priestesses back in Drem … and the guards here.’
‘Perhaps I haven’t saved you,’ she answered. ‘I know you’re here with her, with Zoella. You can’t keep secrets from me. Perhaps I’ll hand you over to them.’
‘At least I’d die happy,’ he said. She laughed. ‘But why did you …?’
‘I told you,’ she said. ‘You’re mine. What happened between us … there’s a bond, a link. You must have felt it.’
‘Yes,’ Meru whispered. ‘I’ve been dreaming of you ever since. Every errant thought, every moment when I lost concentration … it was maddening.’
‘And me of you,’ she replied. ‘I did not intend it, even tried to stop it … but now, I’m glad of it.’
Meru caught his breath, having this beguiling girl in his arms was the most glorious thing he’d ever experienced.
But what now? What would Zoella say? She’d be disgusted. She’d tell me Kiri was evil, irredeemable …
But he couldn’t bring himself to believe it, there was no lie in Kiri’s deep eyes. He was sure of it.
‘Kiri …’
She placed a finger to his lips, rolling to look at him.
I know you care for your friends, and I know what they think of me. But they don’t know the truth of who I am …
Meru frowned.
‘Truth? What truth?’
Kiri spoke now, her voice just a whisper. She ran a finger around his cheeks.
‘When we met in Nireus, when I first caught up with you. There was an old man, remember?’
‘We came to find him. Zoella’s guardian … Guerrun Sandatch. You killed …’
‘No, it wasn’t me. I didn’t hurt him. Zoella struck at me, but I was too deep within his mind to safely release him. I tried to stop her but she tore his mind with her attack. I know she didn’t mean to hurt him. Yet, he was telling me about … about both of us.’
‘Both of you? Zoella and you? What do you mean?’
‘We both share these powers,’ Kiri said, a faint smile teasing her features. ‘Don’t you see?’
‘See what?’
‘We’re sisters.’
Meru couldn’t find words to answer. He looked at her in shock.
‘Sisters?’ he whispered. ‘How can that be?’
‘We’re both daughters of woman called Myana Tiamoi, she was the sister of King Ioric of Scallia,’ Kiri said.
Meru cast his mind back to the walled city of Viresia. He remembered the King, remembered his wisdom. But most of all he remembered the fierce battle outside the gates, against …
‘Ioric …’
‘I didn’t know,’ Kiri whispered, her face forlorn. ‘He was my uncle. If I’d known …’
‘I don’t understand,’ Meru said, propping himself up on one elbow. ‘Zoella was just a maid in the household there, and you’re from Drayden, not from …’
‘Guerrun hid us on Myana’s instruction, they knew we would both have these gifts,’ Kiri said. ‘As babes we were hidden in different places. He tried to keep us out of the reach of the priestesses by sending us to faraway lands. We’re both Scallian, both royalty. Now that they are all dead, we are next in line.’
‘Who knows this?’ Meru asked.
‘Just me,’ she said, her finger now tracing his neck. ‘And now you.’
Zoella and Kiri are sisters? Their powers, so alike. It makes sense …
‘Then …?’
In a flurry of thoughts Meru perceived Kiri’s dilemma. Raised as a priestess only to discover that she had brought destruction upon her own country. The death of the King, the subjugation of Viresia.
There is more I must show you.
Images lit up in his mind. He could see a vast metal edifice, rising into the sky, vast beyond imagining. Clouds swirled around it.
It calls itself the Obelisk …
He gasped.
Yes, it called to me. Chose me, instructed me. It is Lacaille’s emissary on our world. Beyond the priestesses, beyond everything else, this is the truth.
Words echoed in his head, no longer in Kiri’s voice, but with harsh male timbre, demanding attention and commanding in no uncertain terms.
The Obelisk Commands! The Obelisk Requires! Obedience and urgency!
Changes must be made! Lacaille must be sated, all must be set right or death and destruction will blossom, fires will come more devastating than any you have known.
Come to me, faithful one, servant of Lacaille. You are chosen! Come to me! This you must do! Carry out the task appointed! Changes must be made!
The mental connection faded, Meru gasped from the intensity of it.
‘This is what Zoella saw too,’ Meru said. ‘We found out where it is, it lies in the uttermost sunward. We were going there to try to fix it when …’
‘Fix it?’ Kiri asked. Now it was her turn to frown.
‘Zoella heard the same thing,’ Meru explained. ‘That the Obelisk was in trouble …’
Kiri shook her head.
‘No, the task appointed is what the Obelisk requires. You don’t understand. I have to subdue Amar,’ Kiri said, her voice soft. ‘I’m commanded to do it. Only though doing this can we stop the flares.’
Meru shook his head. ‘Kiri, attacking Amar will do nothing but cause death and destruction to all. The flares happen anyway, they’re just something that Lacaille does. It’s the Obelisk that stops them and the Obelisk is breaking down.’
Kiri was shaking her head.
‘You’re wrong,’ she answered. ‘I know it, I saw it. It has chosen me, spoken to me!’
‘Look into my thoughts,’ Meru said, ‘I won’t stop you, go on. Look!’
He saw her swallow. Meru lay back as Kiri rolled across him again, but there was no thought of love now. She pressed her fingers against his forehead.
See, the cavern where we encountered Caesar … the true nature of the Obelisk!
Images flashed between the pair of them. Meru could feel Kiri’s rising astonishment as she saw the hangar, listened to Caesar’s words about the flares and the Obelisk.
It seemed that Ira’s people had once lived in the city above long ago. Zoella couldn’t quite work out why, but something had split the population, with many forced to work below ground. It seemed that generations had passed and the two became separate peoples. Those above had kept those below in slavery, forcing them to work on the plants and animals below whilst they lived in luxury above. With no exposure to the light of Lacaille they had become white-skinned and pale, with those above darker.
Then those with gifts had appeared; the girls. There were fights and unrest. The slaves had attempted to break free but had been brutally suppressed. Any malcontent was punished. The slaves had capitulated, going back to their labour amongst the plants and animals.
Ira seemed to be the exception. Zoella could sense her gift. It allowed Ira to confound the guards, lead them astray whilst the group of girls she looked after sabotaged the machinery. They seemed to have been running an insurrection against those above. The guards tried to find them and eradicate them, but they were too cunning, they knew their way around far better and were able to hide.
Those above were running short of food as a result.
Zoella had tried to explain her own story in pictures. Her own childhood, the priestesses, the city
of Amar they were trying to protect.
They came at last to the Obelisk. Ira had received the same instruction as Zoella. The Obelisk needed them, the compelling call to go there was shared by both.
But Ira had seen something else. One image she portrayed showed a map, far more detailed than anything Zoella had seen, even aboard the Mobilis. It showed all the continents across Esurio, there were all sorts of markers and lines in addition. Ira tried to explain them, but Zoella couldn’t grasp what she meant.
Zoella turned the strange conversation back to Meru.
Ira looked saddened. Zoella could sense regret. Images of torture and death came to her.
Ira shook her head and stretched out her hands, her eyes filling with tears.
‘No …’
Zoella shook her head. She sent her thoughts outwards once again, seeking, searching.
Meru! Meru, can you hear me? Meru!
Kiri pulled back, her gaze distant. Meru could feel her shuddering. Her outstretched arm was shaking, her fingertips trembling before his face.
‘Kiri?’
She was staring past him, her eyes wide and unblinking.
‘It’s all lies,’ she whispered. ‘Everything I know, everything they taught me … it’s all lies.’
She rolled aside, sitting up on the bed. He reached out to her but she held up her hand and shook her head.
‘Give me a moment.’
He watched as she swung her feet out over the bed, her back to him, her hands out to the side to steady herself. She bowed her head, her body shuddering. He could see her ribs rise and fall as she drew deep breaths. She shook her head from side to side.
She got to her feet and walked over to where her dress was pooled on the floor. She picked it up and deftly pulled it over her.
‘I believe you,’ she said, her voice shaking. ‘You can’t lie to me. And if what you have shown me is really true the priestesses are wrong, the religion is wrong and there is no goddess Lacaille. That machine… Caesar. What it says… there’s just the Obelisk and whatever it needs from those of us with this gift.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Meru whispered.
‘I’m going to defy her,’ Kiri said.
‘Who?’
