by M E Wolf
That was more than twenty five thousand years ago and the Fenshian’s destruction made this planet go into an ice age for a while and those she was with now are still too young to remember the ice age. Some stayed because they would rather die fighting than leave their homes that they had worked so hard on. At first Alexandra had a whole army to fight the beasts, but eventually all but her had been killed. It was a pleasure to find such a strong willed people so close to where many great cities had fallen to the evil so long after she had been gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
Shiantara talked with her for hours in the morning. Neither of them had any clothes on, but it did not matter because they were like sisters. Then Richard, Bhargianus’ son, opened the tent flap and interrupted their talk. He looked at Shiantara and then began to stare at Alexandra.
Shiantara spoke while trying to cover her self,
“What are you doing in here Richard? Don’t you know that you are supposed to knock first? Stop staring at Alexandra.” Richard smiled and then looked at Shiantara.
“You are my betrothed and I came to see you. I did not expect you both to be here or both of you naked. You seem to be worrying about your nakedness but Alexandra does not seem to care and she has not even attempted to cover herself.” Just then Horas walked in and paid no attention to Richard or Shiantara and walked right up to Alexandra and spoke.
“Richard you should not be in here with your betrothed before your wedding to her in a few months especially when she is not clothed properly.”
Grabbing a blanket from a shelf he threw it to Shiantara.
“Put this on Shiantara, it will grant you more dignity. As for you Alexandra, Mhekah wants to test your bow skills, but you cannot do it naked. You need some clothing. If you don’t already know that Mhekah is Shiantara’s twin brother.
“He is waiting by the targets for you. Mhekah is practicing as we speak. For the life of me I do not understand why he insists on doing it shirtless. Now, don’t you get any ideas that you can go meet him shirtless too. I see that twinkle in your eye.” Horas waited for her to say something young kids always said because they always said something rash and Alexandra could not be more than twenty years old.
Alexandra was perplexed being talked to like a child. She had not been a child for quite some time and her anger was getting the better of her.
When she spoke she had an air of arrogance about her,
“You insolent pup. Do you realize how old I really am? I am here to get assistance in helping me get rid of the Fenshians from this planet.
“If it really bequeaths you to know how old I really am, I will tell you. I am well over twenty six thousand years old.
“Please do not put it upon yourself to assume that you know more than I. Most of my life I have been in a cocoon, but I have still observed the natural things of this world. My husband is so far away and my three children are there too.”
Alexandra began to cry and without thinking of her nakedness Horas embraced and held her till her sobbing subsided. His face turned deep crimson during the entire time that he embraced her.
He then spoke,
“I am very sorry, Alexandra, but I am used to being the oldest around here and did not realize that one could be so old and look so young.
“At five hundred and eighty-five years old I am venerable and nearly on my last legs. On the other hand you are about fifty times my age and have not even reached adulthood yet.
“Do you understand how long you could actually live to? It is probably an astronomical amount of time.” Horas released her from his embrace and waited for her to speak. Richard said his farewells and asked Shiantara to meet him at breakfast when she was dressed.
“It is possible for me to live to over one hundred thousand years old.”
Before Alexandra could say anymore, Shiantara interjected, “One hundred thousand years oh gosh. That is a very long time Alexandra. Horas what is the real reason for my brother Mhekah wanting to see my friend Alexandra?” Alexandra and Shiantara looked at Horas and waited impatiently for him to speak.
“I was wondering when you would get to that. Shiantara your father is trying to set up marriages for you and your brother on the same day. With your consent Alexandra, Rhutgar wants his son Mhekah, Shiantara’s twin brother, to be married to you in four days.
“The same day Shiantara will marry Richard, Bhargianus’ son. Mhekah wants to meet and talk to you for the next few days because like you he has not consented to be married. Will you spend time with him Alexandra?
“He is a nice young man. I have known him since he was knee high to a grasshopper.” Horas excitedly awaited her response.
Alexandra could not consent to the marriage since she was still married to SilverFox and he was her life time mate. She summoned her full armour including the helmet, bow, quiver and weapon belt and left the tent. She went directly to the location that Horas had suggested to her and saw a young man with his back muscles arrayed in a perfect v-shape firing arrows into a target roughly one thousand yards from where he stood.
He motioned for her to come to his side. Mhekah was smaller than her and had less muscles than she, but was not like others. Where they were awkward with bulky muscles he was graceful. Mhekah continued to fire arrows into the target as Alexandra watched. She was impressed by his talent, but knew that she was far better than him.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Alexandra had not consented to the marriage to Mhekah and hoped that they could still be friends. She did not love the man and missed her husband. Marrying another man while her husband was somewhere else would be disrespectful to her husband. Knowing that he would not live as long as she would live meant that she would not have married him anyway.
He would marry Richard’s sister instead. It was their custom to go through the marriage gauntlet. Horas had told her that no one had ever made it passed twenty miles and it was known that most men did not marry after they had had too many exploits and would surely die before being wed. Most got married while they were young and foolish and thus had very easy times going through the marriage gauntlet.
The nature of the marriage gauntlet was to make very sure that the union would last and that only the toughest would marry. Carrying nothing on them but their clothing they would venture through the gauntlet. Even as the maid of honour, Alexandra was to go through her own gauntlet for the sake of the couples being married and for her husband that was away at this time. Her bride’s maid gown was exquisite, even better than the gown that she had worn to her own wedding to SilverFox.
This gown was designed to not hinder her wings and was in two pieces. Its top was of a sheer lace that just hid her nipples. So that her body would show through her gown she had shaved all of the hair from her body except her tail and the hair around her groin. Alexandra’s milky pale silver skin sparkled through her gown and left little to the imagination. The lacings of her sandals climbed up her legs to just passed the middle of her thighs.
Flowing down her hips and over her thighs to her knees the sheer material of the skirt of her gown along with the light blue slip only hid the details of her now perfect form. Skin prickling with anticipation for her friends’ marriages sent goose bumps downward along her flesh causing her nipples to harden and her body to quiver as if with a chill, even though today felt hotter than the brush of heat from the evil beast’s breath that lead to her metamorphosis.
Her skin’s silver hue sparkled from the rays of the sun as she stepped out into the light of outside from the dimness of the inside of the tent. Sweat slinked its way down her skin opening each pore as she stood still breathing in the warm air and sweet fresh fragrance of pine trees, spruce and other scented things of the forest. Her eyes were closed, her heart slowed and her nostrils slightly flared as she took in air.
The upper part of her gown clung to her breasts and her back when her lungs were full of warm air. Her breasts were cooled as they peaked out from under the bottom of the top piece of he
r gown, but only enough to know that they were part of her breasts. The rest of her breasts was well concealed and only those hints of her breasts were showing and only because of her inhale. Normally the bottom of the top of her gown came down to where the diaphragm was connected beneath her rib cage, which allowed her complete abdominal cavity to be exposed to the air.
Even her lower abdominals were exposed almost to the point of being scandalous. The skirt of her gown hovering at the top of her pristine thighs by a delicate chain of pure gold looked as though it would slip to the ground like the sweat beads that trickled down her breasts crossing just before her belly button, caressing it and then disappearing below the gold chain and blending with the skirt of her gown.
With her wings extending from her back the top of her gown was held up by only the string of pearls around her neck and tied at the bottom with a strand of spun gold so thin that it could only be seen by the sparkling in the bright sunrise. She had no weapons on her because she was to run the marriage gauntlet alone and unarmed. These people had a strange marriage custom, but she was never one to break custom.
Earlier that day Horas had explained it to her. Alexandra could not take flight either. Mhekah, Shiantara, Sarah and Richard all had to do this. The gauntlet was weighed upon your life, the more skilled you were proven to be by what you had done in the past the harder your journey to the marriage wreath that you had to get and place it on your intended spouse was. Of course the maid of honour would not be doing the wreath but had to remain true either way.
By the rule that women should arrive later than the man, the difficulty of their man’s marriage gauntlet was added to that of the bride. Alexandra being over twenty five thousand years old meant that she had to travel more than a mile due to her age. As her past was brought up along with the account that the hunters had made on her attack on the Boggarin, it soon made itself to more than one hundred and fifteen miles. Horas had told her that no one had ever made it passed twenty miles and it was known that most men did not marry after they had had too many exploits and would surely die before being wed.
Most got married while they were young and foolish and thus had very easy times going through the marriage gauntlet. Alexandra would find the next few days hard and Horas had said that since it would take roughly twelve days for the others to finish their journeys, she would only be allowed five days after that to finish her’s despite their distances only being at max fifteen miles. She could make one hundred and fifteen miles in less than a day if she flew, but she would not be a part of the wedding party if she took to the air.
It was ironic to her that she could not fly and it was an inherent part of her life now and this gauntlet’s difficulty was based on her life. Horas explained to her that there was no one that could fly to test her and the dangers were based on scoutings of enemy soldiers in the area of why she was placed here, one hundred and fifteen miles from the wedding banquet. The trail before her was very muddy and water puddles could be seen in various places throughout the forested area. She would have to cover roughly ten miles every day in order to make it in the maximum allowed time of seventeen days.
When she was six foot and eight inches tall prior to her metamorphosis it would have been easier to complete this course. Now she was only four feet and four inches tall and it would be easier in some ways and harder in others. To make it harder she had to sleep without a tent or blankets and forage and hunt for food. The nature of the marriage gauntlet was to make very sure that the union would last and that only the toughest would marry.
Carrying nothing on them, but their clothing they would venture through the gauntlet. Taking a final breath, Alexandra started at a run and began to tread on the trail that was set before her. The mud sloshed and water splashed all over her. It was up to her belly button before she had a solid footing and oozed all over her skin giving her goose bumps. She continued to run until just before the sun went down for the night. Just as night came, so did sounds of things moving through what she considered as a swamp.
She was not sure if these things were aggressive until she felt something wet, cold and hard pass through her right shoulder. Pain exploded there as it came back out and was then passed through her back piercing a lung and coming out through her left breast. She felt the blood oozing from her wounds.
It was hard to see in the dark, but she had to defeat these enemies before they killed her. As she was thinking of the dark her eyes changed to vertical slits like a cat and adjusted to the darkness. She extended her claws and blocked the next lunge that would have killed her with her left and ripped out a throat with her right. Dodging the other one and whipping her head around she ripped its throat out with her teeth.
Alexandra was surprised that there was only two that had attacked her. Hungry from her exertion she consumed what seemed to be a ferocious and deadly version of a troll. Maybe it was the enemies of Shiantara’s tribe Alexandra was not sure, but at least they would sustain her hunger for a little while. She felt fear filled eyes on her as she continued to eat.
Once she was done eating both she checked her wounds. The bottom of her gown came off in the fight and was nowhere to be found, now she understood the reasoning behind having a duplicate gown made for you when you reached the wedding banquet area. It definitely would be improper to be the maid of honour in the nude. Without the gown’s skirt she would be nude from the waist down if not for her sandals.
The damage done to her would have killed her if she were like any other humanoid. Her left lung was filling up with fluid, her right shoulder was numb, the muscles of her wings were badly damaged and even with her healing abilities she would not be able to fly for some time. Delving within herself she healed her broken bones, muscles, lungs and skin tissues as much as she could.
She could still fight well, but would need at least a few days to heal the rest of the way. The top of her gown was still salvageable, so she continued to wear it for decency’s sake. It was dark and the swampy terrain hid the path well. She would not know where to go if not for the trees surrounding the path.
Sleep would be impossible in the swamp so she continued through the trail cautiously. She intended not to be surprised again, so kept watch of her surroundings even in the dark. It was the first time that she had noticed that her senses were far superior than they had been before her metamorphosis. Alexandra heard tree frogs making their music throughout the swamp, bull frogs added their bass sounding voices to the rich violin sound of the tree frogs and added to all of the other creatures in the swamp.
It was like her own personal orchestra. She never paid any attention to music before, but for some reason it intrigued her now. It was never a part of her long life before, but now it was and the animals serenaded her with it. Losing her focus, she tripped and fell into the swampy water and mud. Totally submerged in the mud and water she swallowed some of it. She nearly panicked with all of the leaves, mud, worms, larvae and whatever else that came with the swamp that she took into herself. Getting a grip on herself and spitting out most of what she swallowed, she put her hands on the bottom and pushing up she then kicked out with her legs and slowly rose to the surface.
Realizing that she could swim through this trail, she began to swim. Alexandra lost both sandals and the top of her gown, but still continued to swim completely nude now. Her wings were soggy and lay flat on her back as though it were a cloak hiding her nudity from any unseen eyes. She swam until the sun came up and continued to swim till noon.
It was then that she came to land that she could run on, but for one thing there was a barricade further up the trail. The barricade looked to be heavily guarded and her suspicions were confirmed when ten of the same trolls that she had previously eaten jumped in front of the barricade and began to approach her. All of them were armed with shields and short swords and wearing studded leather armour. It was obvious that their intent was to kill her.
She stayed where she was and got into a fighting stance unsheathing her six-inch
claws. The rules of the gauntlet did not permit her the use of her armour and even though her skin was as hard as steel it was still vulnerable to weapons of silver and it seemed all of her enemies used silver weapons nowadays. Like most unorganized groups they came at her one at a time. It left her no choice, but to move into them and dispatch them as she went. When an enemy’s purpose is to force their member in you while you still live, it would be hard for them to defeat you when your purpose is to kill them and then feed.
As they were running up to meet her, she roared and leaped into the fray. She landed on two of them with the claws of her feet extended piercing both of them in the heart. While they fell to the ground she ripped out the throats of two others with the claws on her hands. Everything was too quick for the ten ferocious trolls and thus they did not have time to panic. By the time Alexandra was passed them all they were all dead.
There were no others in sight and from the time she roared to the death of the tenth warrior only a few minutes had passed. Like the first two she stripped each troll down and piled their naked corpses on top of each other. Getting on top of them she ate and ate until only bones remained of each of them. After eating she slept because she could not move due to the weight of the food in her stomach.
Her wings instinctively wrapped themselves around her entire body keeping her warm. As she slept the food digested and her stomach flattened to normal size again. She slept for a while and when she awoke she was on the tenth day of her journey and only had covered about fifty miles of her journey. With only seven days left she would have to forget about feeding and just travel quickly killing everything that opposed her. Unsheathing all of her claws she ran as fast as she could, leaping the barricade and tearing her claws into everything that seemed to get in the way.
