by K. T. Tomb
Eldorado
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
But he grew old—
This knight so bold—
And o’er his heart a shadow—
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.
And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow—
‘Shadow,’ said he,
‘Where can it be—
This land of Eldorado?’
‘Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,’
The shade replied,—
‘If you seek for Eldorado!’
—by Edgar Allan Poe
Tim came to as the rays of the morning sunshine were thrown through the window of Cash's room. He growled as he raised himself up. He looked around, wondering why the room was shining. He tested the bed, which was incredibly soft. He looked over the clothes he was wearing. They were of a smooth, shining material. It felt like silk, but he could tell it was not. He heard a sigh. That was when he first noticed the body next to him on the bed. He pulled the blanket away and saw the naked form of a woman. He could not see her face, but he would always have recognized every scar and shape of that body. “Pat?” he asked in disbelief.
Cash shot awake when she heard her name. She turned around and was relieved to see her husband had woken up. She sighed and smiled. She turned around fully and crawled over, getting on top of him. She held his face lovingly in her hands and kissed him passionately. Then she sat up. “Thank God...” she exclaimed. “I thought you might not come to.”
Tim looked up at her, completely enchanted by her, as he always was. He let himself be carried along in her love and was content beyond words then.
Cash suddenly looked angry and punched him in the chest. “What for fuck’s sake did you fucking think you were doing, you bloody moppet?” she shouted at him.
“I was trying to find you!” Tim said, rubbing his shoulder.
Cash punched his other shoulder. “You nearly fucking killed yourself!”
“Stop it, Pat!” Tim held her arms and tried to calm her down. She wasn’t prone to tantrums but he could understand her reaction fully.
“You stupid, stupid man. I would have been mortified if you’d been hurt!” Cash pulled her arms out of his grip and turned to face Tim squarely, then bent her head and kissed him again. She let herself fall down onto him and he pulled her close. Tim wrapped his arms around her and let her do what she wanted. She reached down for the trousers he had been given to wear and ripped them away.She positioned herself and pushed her hips towards him. “Don’t do that to me again, you hear?” she said as she moved, her breath becoming more labored. “Don't you ever endanger your life for me again. If I lost you, Id die anyways.”
“I know,” Tim said softly. “I had to find you...”
“Don’t say any more, Tim. I understand,” Cash whispered, then placed her lips against his again, sighing contentedly into his mouth.
There was a knock on the door as the morning hymns from the temple drew to a close. Cash hurriedly pulled the blanket over herself and Tim.
“Come in,” she said.
A servant came in. “You are both welcome to breakfast with the king and his family.” The words sounded very studied, and it was obvious he could not say much more in English. But he did smile the moment he realized what they had been doing. “Good morning,” he added, leaving the room with the same smile.
Cash looked at Tim. “I am bloody hungry,” she said, gently kissing him again. “And the family is really nice.”
“Let's go then. I could use a bite to eat,” Tim said, getting up. But Cash punched his shoulder again, playfully that time. She pushed him back onto the bed. “After you've made up for nearly killing yourself.”
They arrived in the same room as the dinner had been just as the king was singing the morning prayer over the meal. Not letting himself be disturbed, he simply motioned them to come closer and to sit down at the table. When he was finished and they all sat down to eat, the king introduced the family to Tim and he asked Tim to explain what he was doing and how he got there. So Tim told the story. By the end of the story his skin was battered and bruised. Every time Cash heard something she thought was, rash and stupid, she kicked him. And she did not kick softly.
Tim was surprised at the breakfast. He attacked his food with such vigor that it seemed to Cash he had not eaten in a month. When he went for a third helping, Cash dug an elbow into his side when he did. “You're still not forgiven,” she mumbled at him, glaring him down. The king grinned when he saw that.
“You two suit each other,” he remarked.
Cash opened her mouth to protest, but changed her mind before she made a sound.
The girl from the village said she was heading home after breakfast. If Cash wanted to come along, she might do so. There would even be space in the carriage for her husband. Cash looked at Tim when the proposal came. Tim began to say yes, but Cash shook her head. “I'll come along,” she said. “I'll come down with you and collect my canoe. Then I'll be back here for tea. You...” She elbowed Tim again. “You are too weak to travel like that. Besides, you're useless in a canoe.”
Tim frowned and shook his head. “Nothing ever changes.”
“Nope.” Cash smiled. “You're still useless.” She kissed him again. “But I do love you, Mr. Cassidy.”
It was a quick four hour ride to the village and Cash had to explain everything about how her husband got to El Dorado, the City of Gold. But it was a pleasant exchange. The girl told her everything about her business in the capital. It turned out she had been going to the city to see her own lover. She had been going with him for two years already. He had sent for her a few days before, saying he wanted to ask her something. Now they were supposed to get married. Cash congratulated her. It did seem to her again that this society was very free and free of worries.
Cash was invited to have lunch again at the elder's house, and she could not say no. When she got to her canoe some time later, she found that it had not been disturbed at all. A sail had been spanned over it, covering all her gear and keeping water from the dawn from pooling in the vessel. She was waved goodbye by the girl and the elder as she pushed off and put her paddle into the water.
The canoe carried her a lot faster downstream than the llama ever could. Only two hours, later she saw the junction with the canal appear before her. She paddled to the side and slewed the canoe around at the junction, then paddled hard to escape the current. The moment she was in the shelter of the canal, she paddled easy again, speeding her boat fast but easy to the harbor. Someone must have notified Tim, because he was already waiting at the quay when she got there. She let him help her up onto the quay and kissed him, happy to be wrapped up in his arms. She grabbed her bags from down in the canoe and gave Tim one of the two dry bags. She swung one over her shoulder and held the other in her hand. Then she took Tim's hand in her other and she led him back to the palace and to their bedroom.
Cash and Tim spent the next month traveling up and down the country of El Dorado. There was a change in Cash. Tim noticed it very clearly. There was a lightness to her, a caring attitude that had not been there previously. Eventually he even reckoned the glow of El Dorado's shining buildings and its lush countryside were rubbing off on her.
After another dinner at the palace, the king told them he would be happy to arrange a house for them in the city if they wanted to stay. They seemed to enjoy their time in the city very much.
Of course, if they did, they were expected to settle in El Dorado and the City of Gold forever.
That night, in the light of the full moon, Cash lay in bed thinking about that.
“What do you think?” She asked Tim for his opinion. Tim frowned as he turned to look at her. She did not often ask his opinion, even when it came to these sorts of things. Usually Cash made the decisions on what she would do.
“I think there are worse places to be.” he mused. “But I do miss the university and the polo team and cricket practice.”
Cash grinned. “You are a toff, you know.” She laid her head down on his chest. “It'd be a great place to raise a family.”
Tim nodded. “That it is. It's probably the most peaceful spot on earth at the moment. And everyone is happy and well-educated here. There does not seem to have been any trouble in over a century.” He sighed. “But I do miss Blighty.”
Cash reached up and kissed his cheek. “I don't.”
“You don't miss your own home, your library?”
Cash shrugged. “I do, but there's other things here to suit me. I'm learning their language. I'm learning about their history and their culture. I'm quite content.”
“No more crazy adventures? Like jolting off to Colombia?”
Cash grinned and punched Tim lightly. “I might be past that.” She rolled over and sighed, blowing out the lantern by their bedside.
In the morning, she asked Tim again. She gave the king their answer at breakfast. He was sad they would be leaving, but told them they would be welcome to come back any time they wanted.
Over the next week, Cash gathered supplies and prepared the canoe for leaving. The king told her she could simply let herself be carried downstream. On the other side of the river there was a tunnel, which opened out into the dense jungle again. She could pass through there. The river split up into several smaller streams and creeks and they all joined a river which led to the Atlantic coast. He did not know what country that was, but he did know which sea it was.
When the canoe was ready, Cash led Tim down to the quay. She made him sit in the front and she sat in the back. He wanted to take up a paddle, but she swung her own paddle at his shoulder. “You don't know how to handle that,” she snapped at him, before smiling. “Besides, we're going downstream all the way. No need for anything more than steering.”
The king and his family came down to the quay too. He bid them a very fond farewell, and with a wink he promised he would visit them in Wales if he ever went to travel again. He bent down to hug them both and then he handed them a bag. Tim looked inside it and then gazed at the king wide-eyed. The king laughed. “Those shiny things, gold and silver have no value here. I can spare them and you, my friends, can use them in your life out there.”
“Thank you,” Tim muttered, quite humbled. Cash just grinned and nodded at the king. “Stop looking like an idiot, Tim. They use these things as marbles here.” Then she addressed the king and his family. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
“You just make sure you're both fine,” the king said with a wink. “And take care of your husband.”
Cash laughed at that. “I will!” With that, she pushed away from the quay and paddled the canoe down to the middle, heading for the river.
Tim looked nervously around as Cash turned onto the strong streaming river. He was nervous letting go of control, though he knew Cash was perfectly in control. She was even teasing him by playing with the canoe and its turning circle.
It was two hours downstream when Cash saw the tunnel in the hills appear before them. She nodded to it. “There it is. No return once we go into that dark tunnel.”
Tim nodded too. “No regrets though.”
Cash pursed her lips. “I need you to promise me something. A promise worth more than all the gold in this place.”
“What is it, Pat?”
Cash turned the canoe and held it quiet in the water. “I need you to promise me you won't do this again.”
Tim frowned at her. “Do what again?”
“Do something stupid like this again. If I'm doing stupid things and I want you to be stupid with me, I'll ask you. But I need you to keep a level head and stay safe in the future, even if I'm in dire straits.”
Tim opened his mouth and closed it again. “Why would you ask me that?”
Cash gave him an angry look. “Promise me that, swear it to me, or I will put this canoe on the bank and we'll go back to the City of Gold.”
Tim just looked at her. “I promise, if you tell me why.”
Cash turned the boat again and began paddling ferociously, making sure they sped to the mouth of the tunnel as hard as she could make them go.
“Tell me why, Pat!” Tim roared at Cash. And in the last light they saw of the land of El Dorado, Cash looked down at her stomach and then smiled up at her husband. “Haven't you guessed that yet?”
The end.
Cash Cassidy returns in:
The Falcon Cloak
A Cash Cassidy Adventure #4
Return to the Table of Contents
THE
FALCON CLOAK
A Cash Cassidy Adventure
#4
by
K.T. TOMB
The Falcon Cloak
Published by K.T. Tomb
Copyright © 2015 by K.T. Tomb
All rights reserved.
Ebook Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Dedication
The author wishes to dedicate this book to the late
Jackie Collins.
The Falcon Cloak
Chapter One
The launch party of her El Dorado book was torture for Cash Cassidy. She was usually hammered by the time these things got started properly, but this time, of course, was different for her. Standing up and walking around all the time, shaking hands and meeting people was exhausting her. Even though she had forsaken heels in favor of flat shoes, for the sake of practicality and comfort, her feet and ankles were still killing her. She had always been in good shape and had taken special care over the years to train her core muscles, making sure she had a very strong back. But the extra weight of her growing belly and breasts was getting painful.
Tim had suggested she sit down, but she had snapped at him viciously, saying she did not need to sit down, but rather lay down and he would find it was a good idea that he should keep his mouth shut while she was sober and he had been drinking. She had regretted her outburst immediately, but she was too proud to apologize. Instead, she had turned her back and walked to the next guest the publisher had invited. In the back of her mind, the thought kept returning to her that it would get worse before it got better. In the worst moments, she blamed Tim for her discomfort, but she always knew that was not fair. She had known full well what the consequences would be of sleeping with him when she was no longer on the pill, and she had been the one instigating every single moment of passion during their time in that hidden kingdom. And she had wanted this to happen too. Or she had at the time. She was just not that sure right now.
The reality she landed in when they got back was entirely different. She had been in the belly of nature for almost a month before she came to fertile and peaceful El Dorado. She had felt like having children and raising them was the most natural thing in the world and the only logical thing to do as a woman. When she got back to Wales though, the reality was not that clear and apparent.
A week before they left, she had known she was pregnant. There had been no need for tests, she had known it. She had felt in touch with her own body in a way she had not felt before. But in Barry it was different.
A few days after Tim and she had gotten back, she had driven to the other side of the town, to Colcot Road and the Barry Hospital. She had booked an appointment with her gynecologist the day after they got back, even though she usually dreaded going every time. Not because he was an unpleasant person, but mainly because she did not like the cold and casual way doctors examined women down there. She was given the usual tests, and then an ultrasound to round o
ff the visit. The doctor told her at the end of it all that she was not expecting. She had yelled at him and told him she was and that he was wrong.
He had been wrong too, as it turned out when she came back to his practice in the hospital a month later. The same tests gave a different result and the doctor suggested she had become pregnant since, but she had angrily lashed out at him again. His implications were preposterous, mostly because Tim had not been around enough for him to knock her up since they’d got back. He had been in Newport a lot, and there had been several conferences for him to attend which he had, one after the other. So when the doctor had suggested a due date a month later than she had reckoned, she had firmly corrected him again and made him adjust his calculations.
The book had been written very rapidly and the publisher had worked at an equally quick pace, so that the release took place in the second half of her second trimester. By Cash's own calculations, it was another four months before she was due to give birth, according to the doctor it was five.
The party was the usual deal, bar the fact that Cash was trying to avoid talking to her agent. Which she was not succeeding at in any way, due to her being less mobile than usual. She had been running and walking all throughout her pregnancy, not being able to deal with spending all her time in and around the house. She had played tennis for the first few months, then switched from those rigors to swimming. There were the pregnancy yoga sessions and the delivery classes now, which had replaced the swimming. Now her agent was fussing over her, trying to stop her exerting herself in any way. Tonight, even Tim was joining in. The irony of that was of course that he kept telling her to take it easy and rest, but meanwhile, he was drinking, meaning that she would have to drive back. She didn’t mind, as she was not drinking anyway, but she had pointed out the circumstance to him. He did not seem to be too bothered, but then she did say it after his sixth pint and he had always been a lightweight.
