by Gene Rager
Nathan looked at Lela who only shrugged. A dance wouldn’t hurt anything. Nathan took Ileana by her hand and they approached the dance floor that was lit by the moon. Nathan lead Ileana around in a slow dance. Ileana put her head on Nate’s shoulder as they waltzed through the evening. Ileana was over joyed, this was the first time she had ever danced on this floor with someone!
Lela watched the two dance, she noticed the smile on Ileana’s face. It bothered her a little, it shouldn’t have, but it did. A tiny voice in Lela’s head whispered It should be you dancing with Nate, not her! Lela shook her head. She was not going to fall in love with this human! Zorn’s death had taught her better than the finest instructor, about the follies of loving a human.
The dance ended and Ileana took the two visitors to her deserted town, to her home.
Chapter 18
The home was modest. No wall hangings, a few sparsely placed candles. The home seemed like a shack compared to the rest of the village. The thatched roof seemed to let water in. This seemed curious to Nate as the houses they passed seemed in much better shape than the hovel Ileana called home.
“Why do you live in this house instead of one of the nicer homes in the village Ileana?”
“Nate, she is our hostess that is a rude question to ask!”
“No, it is okay. The reason I live in this hut instead of the bigger homes is because when people do come here to rob the village the fancier homes are broken into first, as are the stores, but they leave my hut alone because what could possibly be in that little, poor place?”
“So if I am out gathering food, it is usually a safe place to be.”
The table comfortably sat the three of them. Ileana poured soup into three bowls and passed them out. Nate watched as Lela poured a little of the soup in the vile used to tell if the soup was enchanted. It was okay to eat and Nate began to eat.
The quiet over took them so they began to talk about the forest and other non-insulting things, finally Ileana sighed.
“We have talked long enough about the weather and what not. I will tell you my story. It started with the spell that created Cravenwood. All the survivors fled the forest except me and my father; my mother had died giving birth to me. My father wanted to leave, but being a blind child my father thought the dangers outside the village would be too much for me, so we stayed here. “
“Life was simple here, now that everyone had left. Our days were spent gathering food from outside bushes, growing gardens, and making whatever else we needed. In the evenings while I slept father toiled away on a project, but he would never tell me what it was. Every night outside this hut I would hear scrape, scrape, scrape until I fell asleep.”
“Then one morning came and my father said, “Ileana, hold out your hands, I have a present for you,”
I held out my hands and the weight of the bow filled my hands, but so much more happened there was a faint glow of power and before I could say anything I looked up and saw a red outline of a face!”
“I startled and backed away until my father’s voice came out of the red outlined face. It is me he said. The magic worked you can see me!”
“The magic of the bow works when it is whole, when the string was burnt in half the bow was broken and the magic does not work.”
Ileana held the two ends of the bow string between her fingers, slowly she inched the two pieces towards each other, but nothing happened.
“Curious, normally all I have to do is get the string ends close to each other and the string mends itself, but where you burned the string in half seems like the magic has left the string.” Ileana said with her head cocked.
With a sharp knife Ileana cut the strings just below where they were burned, the two pieces fused back together as if they had never been burned. Ileana restrung her bow, and the string seemed to thicken and lengthen until it looked like it had never been damaged. The red hue filled Ileana’s eyes. She smiled at her two guests.
“I can see you again!”
“It took me some time to get used to seeing like this, my father told me it was the best he could do. I never would be able to see like normal people, but this gift came in handy. I could hunt at night! Practice became easy after hours upon hours. I could hit small coins from far away if they were heated.”
“I was practicing one day when I heard my father cry out. I ran as fast as I could, and found two men standing over him. They demanded the riches our village once had, but the people who left took all the gold and silver with them. The sword made a horrible sound as it slid into my father’s chest and with a gasp he died. I saw the fire fade from his body.”
“I screamed and fired my bow as fast as I could draw it. Arrows filled the air three struck the man with the sword and he fell dead before he hit the ground. The second man fled and I followed insane with grief and rage every arrow I released missed the man, he dodged between trees like a stag. The last arrow I released hit the tree in front of him and exploded. The man fell down, he wasn’t dead. I stalked up to him he was holding his face. I kicked him in the ribs so he would drop his hands and see the arrow that would finish him. The tree had shot splinters into his eyes, he was blind now like me.”
“Get up I screamed, if you ever come back here again I will follow you to where ever you call home, I will kill everything you love before I take your life! Now leave! I let him go I followed him to the edge of the woods. Through some miracle he lived long enough to spread the rumor of the demon archer.”
“I returned home, my father is buried on the other side of the village. The last gift he gave me turned into my legend being born. Not many people make it this far into Cravenwood, only seven ever made it this far and only three now can have the honor of saying they survived my attacks.”
“Lex is the other one?” Nate asked
“Yes, he did something so unexpected When I met him it warrants being told.”
“When he first came here, I ambushed him in the same place I ambushed you two. He called out to me saying he only wished to pass through the village. I did not believe him at first. He stepped out from behind the cart, and held up his hands. By now I was intrigued. What could this person want that was so valuable that he risked his life to get it. I came down from my perch and asked him what is so important that he risked me killing him?”
“He told me he was in love, and to prove this love to his beloved he was going to meet her on the other side of this village in the heart of the most dangerous part of the forest. I told him he was mad, no one could manage to come through anyway other than the village. He said his beloved could, and if the mighty demon archer could spare his life he would introduce me to his beloved and all would be explained. I agreed. We walked through a section of forest behind the village that looked the most dangerous of all, but nothing happened. No animals flew out at us, nothing attacked. We walked this path until we broke through a clearing in the middle was a little pond of water, and nothing else.”
“You lied I screamed in triumph and drew back the bow. The trident hit the ground a mere whisper from my feet.”
“That was a warning, kill him and I will add your bow to my underwater trophy case with your drowned corpse beside it!”
“She was beautiful; the water fell from her body revealing a brilliant radiance that danced in my vision.”
“Lex you came and sought me out. You conquered the forest for me!” The sound of her voice was choked with emotions.
“Kira, you knew you had my heart when we first met, this test to prove my love was a trifle compared to the prize of you becoming my wife.”
“A water nymph!” Lela nearly yelled.
“Did I say something wrong Lela” Ileana was worried that somehow she upset her guest.
“Ileana, we were attacked by a water nymph before we got to your village, she nearly cut my throat in the encounter.” Nate stated calmly.
“It couldn’t have been Kira, she is such a nice person, Kira would never harm anyone.”
“S
he threatened to drown you Ileana on your first meeting.” Nate said.
“You threatened to burn me alive on our first meeting Nate.” Ileana countered.
“It seems that this area has a history of pointing weapons at each other and trying to kill one another.” Nate stated.
Lela only chuckled reminded of their first meeting.
“Okay, maybe there are two water nymphs roaming around in the brooks here.” Lela said the words, but did not believe them. It would be too strange of a coincidence for there to be two nymphs in this close of an area, nymphs would roam in groups, but they would fight to the bitter death if they were of different clans. This meant that no matter how nice this Kira was she knew something about their watery attacker.
The night grew long and their hostess showed Lela and Nate to a house a short distance away from her hut. The house was slightly larger than Ileana’s hut. The bedroom only had one bed in it. The bed looked comfortable, but small.
“Ileana your hospitality is greatly welcomed, but there is only one bed and it is small.” Lela said in a nervous voice.
Ileana smiled, “It is the only bed that is available I am afraid. If you want, one of you can sleep on the floor. I didn’t think it would be a problem being as you love each other.”
Lela’s face turned red, Ileana noticed the heat change.
“If I misspoke, forgive me Lela.” With a wry grin she said “Nate can sleep with me if he likes.”
Nate’s face turned red, the thought of sleeping with either of the two women seemed thrilling and terrifying at the same time. Most men would have jumped at the proposition. Nate was struggling to figure out the best way to do this. He had declared out loud he loved Lela, but she seemed to back away from him, maybe it was the memory of Zorn still haunting her. Ileana on the other hand seemed a little too anxious to jump into bed with him.
Before he could answer Lela spoke up, “Of course you are right, we love each other, how else would we sleep?” The nervous tone was back in her voice.
“Just remember, if you get lonely I am only two doors down.” The last part was said with a little more than friendliness attached.
Ileana left them in silence, after the door shut Lela let out the breath she hadn’t known she had been holding. She turned to see a smile playing across Nate’s face. The blood burned in her cheeks as she blushed. How to stop him from getting the wrong idea? Was it the wrong idea, anymore she didn’t know. She did just say she loved him too. Or was that just to keep him out of Ileana’s bed? She shouldn’t have cared who he bedded, but she did.
“So, you want to sleep together Lela?”
“Sleep yes, anything else no.”
Confusion spread across Nate’s face. Lela was hard to figure out. One second he thought she was going to be a friend the next she seemed interested in him. Figuring her out gave him a headache.
“Fine let’s get some sleep Lela.”
They both slid into the bed, but could not lay flat without touching. Finally giving in Lela looked at Nate.
“Hold me Nate, I can’t explain why I am so conflicted with you, but I am.”
Nate held the elven princess, their bodies where pressed against each other. Lela put her arm around Nate’s side. In this embrace they fell asleep.
Ileana cocked her head in her bed straining to hear any sounds of love making, when none came she smiled. Tomorrow they would be out on the trail and she could try to get Nate to notice her again. Maybe this time he would take her up on her offer. The loneliness was so hard to overcome, and maybe he wasn’t interested in her at all, but what could it hurt? Ileana fell asleep with dreams of Nate being her mate, and the elven girl he was with going back to where she belonged alone.
Chapter 19
“Ileana come play with us!” The children chimed merrily.
This was Ileana’s favorite dream, the dream of the way she had always wanted her childhood to be, instead of how it had been.
Ileana ran towards the ring of four girls laughing without a care in the world. There were no invading armies that caused the forest to become a living nightmare. No one left her out of games because she was different. In her dream Ileana was popular, beloved by her family and friends. The dream was a beautiful lie.
Ileana danced and played with her friends; they played, and ran most of the day. Finally the children decided to play one last game before evening came, they were going to play hide and go seek.
Ileana did not want to play this game; the dread welled up inside her. “No, please she pleaded. Don’t go.”
The children laughed and disappeared leaving her to find them. Ileana searched the village, but no one was there. She was left behind! Father, would know where everyone went.
Ileana ran to her home, but it was gone. The forge where her father made the metal for his beautiful weapons was gone. Panic seized Ileana. She couldn’t be alone, not now, not after she had been so well loved.
“Love, no one could ever love you, you are too strange a creature to deserve to be loved.” The mocking voice taunted.
“Was it love that delivered you to Kyne’s door? No, it was shame. You are the child that no one wanted. You can’t see, but you still manage to fire a bow, how strange is that? You are a demon!”
“No!” Ileana screamed “A demon sent to ruin everything!” The taunting voice declared “It’s not my fault, and I am loved!”
“By who, Kyne? He only took care of you out of obligation. You are an unwanted thing! You should have been left in the forest to die!”
The forest changed from the pleasant lush green into a dead, thorn covered nightmare. Vines shot from the trees and wrapped themselves around Ileana’s body, the thorns bit into her flesh! The vines began to pull her into the forest depths where unseen animals waited to rip her tender flesh from her bones.
Ileana sat upright and screamed. She was covered in sweat, and shaking despite the warm night air that surrounded her. She looked around seeing nothing, only the sound of her heart racing told how bad the nightmare had been. A few moments later, Nate and Lela where knocking on her door.
“Ileana, are you okay?” Lela yelled.
The door opened revealing a nude, shaken, and sweaty Ileana.
Nate turned away blushing deeply. Lela pulled the blanket off her back and wrapped the young woman up. Ileana snapped back to herself. She had forgotten she had visitors. This was great; emotionally she waited for the berating of freak, and strange one. When the insults didn’t come she eased a little, the muscles in her body unlocked.
This was not how Nate was supposed to see her naked for the first time! Frustrated, she began trembling again, nothing ever went right in her life! With all she could muster she managed an embarrassed smile and said’ “It was just a nightmare, I am sorry if I startled you.”
“It’s okay Ileana. We were just afraid something happened to you. Do you want to talk about your dream? It helps sometimes to talk about bad dreams.” Nate said looking at the blanket clad woman.
“No I am fine, sorry to have startled you in such away.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to talk Ileana?”
Why was Nate pressing talking so much? Could he like her enough to care? But if that was true why was he traveling with the elven woman? Finally she managed a slight grin, and with a slightly chipper voice said, “Not now, maybe in the morning.”
“Okay then good night.”
“Good night Nate, good night Lela.”
After they left Ileana had a wonderful idea, she could drug the elf with a sleeping potion, and when the elf took her three hour long nap, she could seduce Nate. This was brilliant, the boy won’t know what hit him. The last thought she had before sleep over took her was Nate saw her naked. An impish grin played across her mouth, as she wondered if he liked the view.
That morning Ileana was up early. The nightmare that had worn her around the edges on so many mornings before, may have given her a way to snare Nate. Ileana went into the forest to gather
food for breakfast, and a couple of herbs for the sleeping potion.
Ileana decided to go to the hot spring that was behind the village for a nice bath, the nightmare had left her soaked in sweat, and well smelly. The hot spring was easy to find, being as she had the bow with her, and could see the heat easily.
Ileana disrobed and slid her body into the temperate water; the heat eased the tension from her. All her muscles relaxed. She traced her fingers along her own body, feeling her curves, she hoped Nate liked what he saw last night, and if she was lucky he might be seeing her nude again! This thought gave her a wicked grin, it had been so long since she had someone just care about how she felt. Her smile slipped away.
She began thinking of Kyne, her adopted father. He would not approve of her drugging the elf and seducing her male partner. Kyne had been the village weapon maker, and one of the fiercest warriors in the village. Kyne’s prowess with a bow was nearly legendary. Kyne’s reputation also had a negative affect for Ileana; it made the village boys afraid of talking with Ileana.
Being blind meant being different, but Kyne made certain that different did not turn into being helpless. Kyne had taught Ileana to make a fire in the hearth that had been an adventure! She already knew the forest well enough to gather fire wood, but actually starting a fire seemed impossible to her.
“Ileana you have to place the tinder inside the pile of sticks or the fire will not catch.” Kyne’s voice was patient.
Actually now that Ileana thought about it Kyne never raised his voice to her, or acted like he didn’t want her. He would spend hours with her teaching her what she needed to know to survive. The lessons seemed to stretch on endlessly, but then the day came when he presented her the bow that let her see for the first time and the day he died. Ileana felt the loneliness grip her once more. She would not have it! She was beautiful, independent, and self-reliant what more could a man desire? She was better than the elf that accompanied Nate, and she would prove it to him! Ileana pulled herself out of the hot spring, feeling the cool morning air chill her skin.
