"Wow."
"Is that an oath?"
"No—it's just—wow. The moonlight off your face is really bewitching,"
"You think me a Sorgina?"
"No, Tattie, I—"
"You think I've cast a spell on you?"
"I didn't say—"
"Then I'll have to break that spell, won't I?" Her arms slowly encircled his neck and she kissed him, pulling her body into his. His arms, slowly at first, engulfed her. In their embrace, they slowly sank below the water. Cris hardly noticed. The warmth she brought now exploded inside him. He felt a joy he'd never known, he felt stirrings deep inside his soul that he had never felt or even imagined possible. His desire for her was bound to another feeling he did not recognize; their combined heat melted the two emotions, and together they became one. The seething heat of his passion fired a furnace within him that powered a new engine whose pistons hammered in his chest and in his mind.
The water around them seemed to boil, and a light formed where Tattie’s breasts met his chest. The light grew in intensity until the entire pool was aglow.
Tattie and Cris were both blinded by the light's brilliance. Their eyes closed tight, but their lips never parted. The water seemed to evaporate around them. Then, the rocks, the forest, and the planet itself all dissolved until they floated free in a swirl of stars. A yellow light ripped the firmament apart and Cris's eyes opened. It was dawn, and he and Tattie lay naked upon the water's edge, where they had slept.
Chapter 18
The Judgment of the Ancient
Cris felt warm and unreasonably happy as he lay on the moss-covered ground. Tattie remained asleep, snuggled up next to him. How their relationship had changed. It seemed it was always changing—back and forth. He resolved not to allow the pendulum to swing back the other way.
What had happened last night? Part of what he remembered was real, as evidenced by her appearance next to him right now. But the other must have been a dream. He realized they were lucky not to have drowned.
What would be her reaction when she awoke, now in the harsh light of day, with the intoxicating passion of the night behind them? Would she be angry, slap him, run away, or perhaps take up her bow and—
She laid alongside him, on her stomach, her body generating that same warmth he had known that cold night on the forest's edge. Tattie sighed deeply and contentedly. Cris remained still, looking at her face in the early morning light. Her eyes suddenly popped open quite wide, her pupils dilated quickly then her lids relaxed and returned to that half-open state he had seen last night.
Cris watched for the smallest sign of how she would react, perhaps she would accuse him of some seduction. His heart stopped.
A small smile played about her lips. She closed her eyes and pressed herself closer into him. Cris inhaled silently, and exhaled with even greater stealth.
He propped himself up on his left elbow and looked into her eyes. He had never seen them so green. As he looked, her pupils grew wider and her smile broadened. Slowly, he leaned in and kissed her. She uttered a low sound, almost a purr. That warmth of hers flooded his body, and now his mind as well. It continued to increase by degrees the longer he kissed her. Something was new inside of him, but he knew not what.
"Tattie—I'm sorry, I never meant to go this far."
"Sorry? For what are you sorry, Cristóbal Salazar? Do you know how rare was the moment we shared?"
"I—no. In truth—I'm not even sure what it was we shared."
"No? What a pity." She smiled softly, then gently stroked his lips with the end of her finger. "You are as a small burrowing creature that has been lifted up from his dark tunnel and shown a star. If he sees it at all, it has no meaning for him."
"Then tell me."
"I cannot. It is for you to give meaning to your own light."
"Damn, every time I need your precise language you abandon it for riddles."
She smiled at him briefly, and then her face became serious. Her eyes searched his and his lips were drawn to hers. He found her kiss did more to restore him than a liter of Geldneth Nordthok.
Cris lifted his head and looked down at her willowy body, took in her hourglass figure, noted the kidney dimples at the base of her back.
"Tattie?"
"Yes?"
"Ah—did we—"
"Did we what, Cris?"
"I don't mean to sound foolish, but my memory of last night seems to have transformed into a dream. I don't know where the memory ends and the dream begins. So—did we—you know—Amaday?"
Slowly, a large smile spread across her face and her eyes seemed to blink in slow motion. "No, Cris. Last night you and I left the somatic world and entered the asomatous world."
"Wait a minute. You mean, whatever we did last night…we did it without our bodies? How is that?”
From above them, Capek's voice cried out, "Madam, sir, I detect movement on a heading of ahon eta lowgretia law grado, at a distance of five kronmals. The source of the disturbance is moving erratically, suggesting a search. I believe we should depart."
"Cris, we must go. Turn your back."
"What?"
"Turn your back as I dress."
"After last night?"
"What do you think you saw last night, Cris?"
"Now that you mention it—wait a minute, I'm looking at you right now."
"You've seen me from behind before Cris."
"Eh?"
"That night on the Unsate. I never dropped my clothing."
Cris turned his back to her, feeling embarrassed. She dressed, then she said, "Your turn."
When he looked back, she had laid his garments on a rock, and she was leaning against the rock.
"Not fair," he said.
She laughed and stepped behind another rock. Cris leapt up and quickly dressed. When he had finished, he looked behind the rock, but Tattie was not there. He glanced about, stopping when he heard Tattie's voice some distance away. He looked up and there she stood, on the same spot where he had watched her enter the pool the night before.
"Not fair!" he shouted up at her. "It was dark and you were behind this rock!"
She ran up the hill to join Capek, giggling all the way. Even from this distance, he felt her warmth.
Cris took several minutes to reach the top of the hill to join Tattie and Capek. They were looking off in the direction of Galdo Heirya.
"What is it? What do you see?" Cris asked.
"Sir, I cannot identify specifically what is there, but it is roughly paralleling our path from the city."
"So, it's headed this way?"
"Yes."
"How fast?"
"In your terms, it is moving five to eight kilometers per hour."
"About the speed most people walk. How long before it catches us?" Cris asked.
"I estimate one point five to two hours," Capek replied.
"Let's go. And Capek, alter our course on an irregular basis."
They walked down the hill and Capek moved in a new direction. As they headed away from the pond, Tattie, now walking at Cris's side, turned to look back. Cris saw her turn, and looked back himself, as he did, he felt her hand slip into his.
Her warmth again surged through him. Tattie's eyes lingered on the hill and the pond for some time as they walked. Then she turned to Cris and said, "It really is a lovely spot. I want to return here someday."
After an hour of walking, Cris asked, "Capek, what kind of speed are we making?"
"Roughly two point two five kilometers per hour."
Cris understood that, as the slowest among them, he was holding them back. He tried to pick up the pace, but forty minutes later, he was feeling it. There was no way he'd be able to maintain this level of exertion.
They passed a small meadow and Cris noticed a singularly tall tree. "Capek, do you think you could climb up there and spot whoever is tailing us?"
"Yes, Cris. I can do that." He approached the base of the tree and began to climb. Great strength and
a sure grip took Capek to a considerable height in very little time. He scanned the area behind them, then scurried down rather quickly.
"Cris," Capek reported, "I can see one large individual, male, moving rapidly up behind us. He seems to be reading the tracks we are leaving in the ground. I estimate he will be upon us in thirty minutes, perhaps less."
"Here's what we're going to do," Cris said. "Tattie, you and Capek will keep going. Proceed another five hundred meters in the same direction, then circle around and come back here. We'll set up an ambush and take this one guy out."
"Out where?" Capek asked.
"By that, I mean we'll kill him," Cris said, the seriousness of his comment illustrated in his voice.
"Cris," Tattie said, "you know I'm not going to let you face this assassin alone. I won't even argue it with you."
"Listen, as fast as you two move, you should be able to leave a false trail and get back here long before this guy arrives."
Tattie considered his words a moment then nodded.
"Cris," Capek said, "I am sorry, but I am incapable of killing anyone."
"It's okay, I’ll do it. Now, you two get going—hurry."
Tattie and Capek shot out of the meadow at an incredible speed. Cris waited a moment for them to depart and get out of sight, and then he removed his rifle from his shoulder and started off in the direction of their advancing enemy at a full run. He wanted to ambush this man tracking them, but did not want to risk Tattie's life doing it.
He'd run about five minutes before he stopped to examine the terrain. A hillock off to his right with several short trees or bushes atop it seemed a good place to establish his ambush. He scrambled up and lay under an odd plant with a thick short trunk and a set of branches that gave it the look of a green topped mushroom with a pinkish stem.
As he lay there, he gathered up some branches from the forest floor near him and started to camouflage his position. He tried to calculate how much time had passed since Capek provided the estimate of when the guy following them would catch up. Had fifteen or twenty minutes passed, or more? His target could be entering his kill box any minute.
Without a hint of warning, large powerful hands gripped Cris's ankles and he was jerked backward out of his camouflaged position. A knee pressed into his back between his shoulder blades and one of the great hands held his head down, the other snatched the rifle from him. Then a deep, booming voice proclaimed, "Is this the best you can do?" Then the man's weight came off of him and Cris quickly spun around.
"Uncle Tarnus?"
Tarnus extended a hand to help Cris to his feet. "Have you already joined the family, boy?"
Cris accepted his rifle back from Tarnus and stepped back to look the massive man over. He was bloodied in several places. He bore two bandages made from his shirt, one around his left shoulder the other around his right thigh, both were still bleeding.
"Tarnus, what the hell happened to you, man?"
"We'll discuss that later. Where is Tattie?"
A voice from the base of the hill shouted, "I am here, Teaoh." Tattie and Capek sprinted to the top of the hillock. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed her uncle, then turned on Cris. "You lied to me and deceived me!"
"I didn't want you with me on this."
"Why, so you could die alone?"
"I promised Tarnus, here, I'd look out for you."
"Don't drag me into this, young Cris of Earth!" Tarnus laughed.
"This is no joke, Teaoh," Tattie said sternly, then rounded again on Cris. "How am I to trust you in the future?"
"She has a point, Cris," Tarnus said.
"I thought you were going to stay out of this?" Cris said up at Tarnus.
"You must enjoy my anger!" Tattie shouted at him.
Cris took her forearms in his hands and looked into her eyes, "No, Tattie, I don't. Not one bit. I'm sorry, but I won't see you hurt."
Tattie jerked her arms free, then stood motionless for a moment, her face still contorted with anger. Then without warning, she jumped forward, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Cris was as surprised as he'd ever been in his life.
"Oh, Cris," she said, "you're so close."
"Close to what?"
"You'll know when the time comes."
"Cryptic," Cris said, shaking his head. "Cryptic."
"What has transpired between you two since your stay in my house?" Tarnus demanded.
Cris and Tattie looked up at him and both said in one voice, "Nothing."
"It was from such nothing that your parents got you, young huntress!"
Cris threw his arms up. "No, sir, nothing like that! We had a swim, is all."
Tattie, now that her anger had abated, saw for the first time her uncle's wounds. Removing the bladder from around her neck she offered it to Tarnus, "Here, my Teaoh, Geldneth Nordthok."
Shortly, they had Tarnus sitting under a tree, treating his wounds with the elixir, and quietly sipping from the bladder. He looked up at Capek. "Where did you acquire a videkanica?"
"Teaoh, this is Capek. He is accompanying us to Emer Alda, hoping to be useful there."
"You're unemployed, eh?"
"Sir, I was once the property of the Duke of Methderall."
"Bad business, that. I am sorry."
"Teaoh, what happened to you?" Tattie asked.
○O○
Tarnus, sitting under the tree, sipping the elixir, began his story with Cris and Tattie sitting near him, while Capek scanned the surrounding area.
"You two had not been gone very long at all when there came a hammering at my door. I wondered why you two would return; imagine my surprise when upon opening my door I was looking down into the face of that old Daroyak, Mag'Osnik."
"Will you keep an old friend standing outside your door, Tarnus?"
"No, never. But you may remain here."
"Tarnus, I have grave news that will require your action, and little time for this business."
"Enter, then, and be welcome."
“He swept into my home and threw himself down at my table.”
"Tarnus, a mug of Elba would be most welcome."
"Gimba, you are not in a tavern. What is your business with me?"
“He looked up at me with those forlorn Portigalweg eyes, so I fetched the black beer and set a flagon before him.”
"All right, beggar. You have your drink, now speak."
"Tarnus, the Solar, Cris, whom your orbrena accompanies, is being pursued by Bruckna the Sorgina. She has declared that all who aid them will die. You must flee."
"I have no fear of her or her mercenaries, let them come."
"She has sent legions of her Ahs Dormis, many of them Geldneth. Just how many do you plan to slaughter?"
"The emt tziker!"
"Tarnus, you've not much time. In the woods by the Ont caves, they found pieces of the Solar's uniform, and this side of the lanc rock hills they found part of his rama. They know he follows the Yebrik path, which will lead them here. They are close now, and will smell him on your house. The people of Aldeya must run away to the far Mendaba. You and I must alert them all.”
"Then I must get Tattie away from this Solar. To carry the black mark is one thing, but to be hunted like a beast by that Sorgina is—"
"Tarnus—we both know that she will never leave his side. Help me clear the hamlet, then I want you to spread the news to all the former soldiers of the old Geldneth king."
"Mag'Osnik, there is but one way to do that in any reasonable time. And he will not aid us; it is likely that on the sight of me in his presence, he will kill me."
"It is not just your orbrena and the Solar that concerns me. There is war in the air, Tarnus. This very day, the Avory will openly defy Bruckna. I have seen it."
"Impossible, the Avory only side with the Avory."
“I have seen it, I tell you! Now—we have work to do.”
Tarnus shook his head, remembering the scene he’d described.
“The good folk o
f Aldeya know and respect both Mag'Osnik and me, so they believed our warning,” he continued. "As the sun reached for the cover of night, the last of the inhabitants departed their homes and were headed out across the fields to the Mendaba, to shelter in the ruins of Vonkanoor Impara.
“From the forest and from the Hegola, torches, too numerous to count, became visible as the poor Ahs Dormis descended on the tiny and now doomed hamlet of Aldeya.
“Mag'Osnik and I walked Impara—north, to you, Cris—out of town and into the valley, following you two. Despite the handicap of his tiny eyes, and perhaps aided by his wizardry, Mag'Osnik found the bodies of the Lautmen. I saw where you'd left the trail, and found the remains of the eye. Mag'Osnik pointed out the trail that hundreds of Ahs Dormis left behind, a stone could see their trail. It led us to the Cave of the Dark Moon, where creatures gathered, waiting on the two of you to come out, and eating the bodies of those they had killed for food.
"We skirted around them far to the Hegola, then turned to the Impara-Ekaldn. We both understood where we were going.
"Mag'Osnik, will you accompany me to that most ancient of trees, to the Omnez Avai Avory?"
"I cannot, my friend. This, only you can do."
"The elder Avory hates me…he will not listen."
"Tarnus, my friend, he does not know why you failed to save the saplings that day. You must tell him. He reads the truth in a man's heart as assuredly as he does a lie."
“We stopped in a small glen where he gathered several odd things unto him, some white soil from the side of a hill, the thick sap of several muffon spores, dried leaves of the calik tree, and the thin, watery juice of the poisonous fruit of the biflonon tree.
“He then conjured up a small, blue fire that produced very little light, and a small bowl he brought forth from I know not where. Into this bowl, he poured the muffon sap and the juice of the biflonon fruit. He ground the dried leaves between the palms of his hands and tossed the shards into the mix. Soon, the foul-smelling brew was simmering over the blue flames, and then he sprinkled in the white soil. Next, he turned to me.”
"Tarnus, I need your arm."
“With the nail of his finger, he opened a vain above my wrist and my blood began to flow. He held my arm over the bowl and added my essence to the potion.
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