He grinned, rubbing his hands along her back. "I'm not afraid, you rascal. But we have to leave. We need to cross the Backbone Mountains tonight and find a Bard in Rillia to marry us. If we ask one in the Dalvador Plains, he will probably recognize me and refuse to do the ceremony without talking to our parents. But I look at least two years older than I am, Lily, and that's old enough for us to marry without parental consent. If we go to the Rillian Vales, we can have it done." Vyrl didn't care that in the interstellar culture of his mother's people, he was many, many years away from the age of majority. On Lyshriol, he was almost an adult. Lily nodded, her eyes glimmering. "Then let us go."
The war-lyrine raced across the plains, thrilling in its speed, releasing its pent-up energy much as Vyrl did when he ran through the endless grasses. Unlike the graceful, slender lyrine he had shown Devon yesterday, this powerful animal had a massive build and a violet coat, almost black in the moonlight. Its muscles rippled as it ran. The Dalvador Plains spread everywhere, an ocean of translucent reeds blued by the moonlight, as if enchanted. Behind them, the village of Dalvador dwindled in the plains; ahead, still a ride of a few hours, the Backbone Mountains speared into the sky.
Vyrl sat astride the lyrine with Lily in front of him, his arms around her waist, his hands gripped on the reins. The Lavender Moon rode high in the sky, bathing them in violet radiance and drawing glints of light from the lyrine's horns. The crescent of the Blue Moon hung above the horizon.
Moonglaze had the full liquid gait of a well-bred lyrine, his muscles bioengineered to even out his motions, making his run so smooth that Vyrl and Lily could speak in full sentences even with their mount racing across the plains. Vyrl's mother had expressed surprise to his father at the poetic names his people gave their war mounts but it made sense to Vyrl, who had been raised on Lyshriol. His mother's people seemed overly pragmatic to him.
Leaning against Vyrl, Lily pulled her cloak tight. "I've never ridden on such a glorious animal before."
"I'm not surprised. The great stallions like Moonglaze let few people touch them." Vyrl didn't want to think what his father would do when he found out his son had absconded with his best war-lyrine. But Moonglaze had always taken to Vyrl, and tonight he needed the animal's strength.
Moonglaze had gone to "war" only a few times; conflicts on Lyshriol were minor, more like arguments than combat. But beyond this simple world, an interstellar civilization teemed with life and violence, caught in a world-slagging war that most people here could never comprehend. Vyrl knew that to survive, his mother's people needed military leaders much as Devon and Althor.
Vyrl had no wish to fight; he wanted only to raise crops and babies with Lily. Although his father had trained him in the use of a sword and bow, he seemed content with Vyrl's preference for farming, certainly the most prevalent lifestyle in Dalvador. However, Vyrl was the only farmer here who wanted a doctorate in agriculture. He could do it without leaving home, as a virtual student, if he could just buckle down to his studies. Lily would help in that; she always seemed to settle him.
As Devon's consort, he could earn as many doctorates as he wanted. And then? Skolian nobility didn't farm. He might like research; he didn't really know. But it wasn't his dream. He had no grievance with Devon; she seemed an honorable person. Even so, he could never imagine life in the Imperial Court. She wanted the innocent farm boy, but if she took him away from the land and life he loved, it would destroy him.
If he hadn't loved another woman, perhaps he could have accepted the arranged marriage. It would have given him a great gift, freeing him to pursue a life he had never dared imagine could be his. He loved to dance and had trained all his life, but only in private where no one except his family and off-world teachers knew. It wasn't accepted among people here that men dance, not under any circumstances, not even at festivals.
It didn't matter. Without this woman in his arms, his life would be infinitely poorer. By the time their parents learned what he and Lily had done, it would be too late; they would have consummated their marriage. Their wedding would be public knowledge. Devon could no longer wed him even if his parents annulled his union.
Vyrl pulled Lily close, and she settled against him. He knew he had made the right choice in asking her to marry him.
He just hoped it didn't cause an interstellar crisis.
Snow pummeled Vyrl and Lily as they rode through the mountain storm, an unexpected tempest after the clear weather down in the plains. He kept his arms and cloak protectively around Lily. His backpack, their most valuable possession right now, was securely lashed in the travel bags Moonglaze carried.
"—there!" The wind caught Lily's voice and tore it away from his ears.
He leaned his head over hers. "What?"
"Need shelter… we could be…" Gales stole the rest of her words.
"Be what?"
"Hurt," Lily said.
Vyrl clenched the reins. Inside his gloves, his fingers had gone numb. Had he brought his love out here only to lose her to the fury of a blue storm? No! He would never let it happen. He would die first—yes, he would—before he allowed anything to hurt Lily. Not that he was sure how his dying would help matters, but that was how he felt.
Lily was right, though; if they didn't locate shelter, they could find themselves in serious trouble. He couldn't see much of anything. Moonglaze's head was barely more than a shadow in the swirling flurries. The lyrine had slowed to a walk, stepping carefully along the trail.
"—down," Lily was saying. "We're probably safer on foot."
"Yes, I think so." Vyrl reined in the lyrine and dismounted, then steadied Lily as she slid down next to him. Clutching the reins, he put his arm around her shoulders. Darkness whirled around them and wind ripped at their cloaks. His teeth chattered with cold.
Their best hope was probably to take refuge within the clumps of boulders that dotted the meadows on either side of the trail, if they could find some. He took a cautious step, drawing Lily through the swirling storm, almost blind in the darkness. Moonglaze followed, crowding them, his body too close.
"Don't do that," Vyrl muttered at the lyrine.
"He wants to protect us," Lily said.
Vyrl swallowed, recognizing she spoke the truth. What if his rash decision to run away ended in tragedy? Steeling his resolve, he took another step into the icy dark. "I can't see a blasted thing."
She spoke with reassurance. "We'll manage. We've been through worse."
"That's true." He said it to comfort her. Although he had experienced bad weather up here before, he had been part of a well-equipped caravan then. They had simply set up enviro-tents and sat out the weather in comfort. Right now he had nothing but his .palmtop; his already stuffed pack hadn't had room for much else. The palmtop could do little more than tell him they were in trouble, which wasn't exactly a great revelation.
Lily tugged on his arm. "Over here!"
He squinted into the darkness. "You see something?"
She pulled his hand forward until it hit rock. "This."
Vyrl frowned. The trail had no outcroppings this close to the road. "It shouldn't be here."
"I think we're farther along than we realized."
His hope surged. "The cliffs above the meadows have caves."
"Little ones, but that's enough."
He groped along the wall with one hand, drawing Lily and Moonglaze with him, all of them faltering through the storm, their progress slow. Snow dusted Vyrl's eyelashes, making it hard to see, and he shivered constantly despite his heavy cloak. He had checked the forecast twice that afternoon. It had predicted chill weather in the mountains, yes, but it had also claimed the night would be calm, with only a dusting of snow.
Suddenly he stumbled into an open space. He regained his balance with ease, never losing hold of Lily or the reins. Mercifully, the storm had quit tearing at them. He drew in a ragged breath, his first full one since they had dismounted.
"You did it!" Lily hugged him hard, as if he
had just performed a great feat instead of lurching about in the dark like a dolt. He smiled, his heart warming even if his body felt half-frozen.
When he pulled her close, he felt her shaking. "It's all right," he said. "I think I know this place." He drew her farther into the cave, waving his hand in front of them. The lyrine moved at his side, a large presence in the dark.
His knuckles hit a wall with painful force. "Ah!" Grimacing, he shook his hand. "I found the back."
Lily's cloak rustled as she felt the wall. "We can wait out the storm here."
"Yes." Vyrl reached around for the lyrine, with no success. Dropping his hand, he brushed its back. "Hey! Moonglaze is lying down." Although it wasn't unheard of for a lyrine, it was unusual enough to startle Vyrl.
Lily turned in the small space. "Are you well, Moon?" The lyrine nickered to her.
"He made a wall for us," she said. "He's going to sleep that way, I think."
"He's warming the cave." Although Vyrl still felt cold, he was no longer shivering. He scratched the base of Moonglaze's horn. Although lyrine would let people ride them, the animals rarely showed much affinity for humans, especially the great beasts like Moonglaze. In rare instances, a war-lyrine would decide it liked a particular human, though Vyrl had never figured out what made them choose a person. He wondered if the Ruby Empire biologists had tried to breed loyalty into them, but it either hadn't fully taken or else millennia of genetic drift had changed its manifestation. Whatever the reason, he was glad Moonglaze accepted his company and seemed to approve of Lily.
Lily put her palms against Vyrl's chest. In the darkness he could just make out the pale oval of her face. "Do you think the snow will trap us here?" Her voice quavered.
"Don't be afraid." He curled his gloved fingers around hers. "If this is the place I think, it's under a shelf sticking out from the cliff. It would be almost impossible for snow to block our way out."
"It will be an adventure."
He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers. "I do so love you."
Complete silence.
"Lily?" When she remained silent, alarm surged in Vyrl. She couldn't have been hurt, not in the few moments—
"Hai, Vyrl," she murmured. "And I do love you, too."
He gulped, comprehending what he had done. Caught up in their predicament, he had spoken his love aloud for the first time. Embarrassed, he started to stutter, but she put her finger against his lips, rescuing him from the need to answer.
Vyrl tugged her close, and they sank down onto the rocky ground, wedged between Moonglaze and the wall. He wrapped his cloak around them both, drawing her inside the warmth. But when he tried to kiss her, she ducked her head.
"Lily, let me," he coaxed. "We'll be married tomorrow."
"Goodness, be patient." She stroked his cheek. "Would you have us grapple in a cold, hard blizzard instead of having a proper wedding night?"
Grappling with Lily anywhere sounded just fine to Vyrl, but he could tell this wouldn't be right for her. So he made himself say, "I guess not." He still held her close, though, settling her body against his.
For a while they just sat, listening to the storm. Vyrl imagined how the snow must look, drifted in great blue swells. Eventually he said, "Do you know, snow isn't blue on other worlds."
Lily stirred. "What color is it?"
"White."
"White? How dull."
He laughed. "Their clouds are white, too, or gray."
"People must like coming here to have good water."
"Actually, the water makes them sick."
"But why? It tastes so good."
He kissed her temple. "We have nanomeds in our bodies, little biological machines to deal with the impurities that turn our water blue. Our ancestors were engineered that way. Most people don't have them. My mother had to receive treatments before she could live here."
"It must be strange and wonderful, to live above the sky." Her voice had an odd sound now, as if she feared her own questions. "Don't you ever want to go there?"
"Not really."
"Not at all?"
"Not at all." Lowering his head, he slipped back the hood of her cloak and nibbled at her ear. "Everything I want is here."
"Even if you could marry a great off-world queen?"
Ah. Now he understood. "Even then."
Her relief flowed over him. "She does seem awfully old."
He laughed. "I must seem awfully young to her."
Mischief danced in Lily's voice. "But you are so very fine, especially when you are falling over after running in the plains."
Vyrl glowered. "I'm not clumsy."
She snuggled closer. "If I tell you a secret, you must promise to tell no one."
His interest picked up. "All right."
"You aren't clumsy." With shyness, she added, "The way you move is, well… sexy."
Heat spread through Vyrl. "Ah, Lily," he murmured, trying to kiss her again, his hands searching for a way under her clothes.
"Now you stop that." She thumped him on the head. "Behave yourself."
He groaned. "You torment me."
"You can't tell anyone what I said."
"All right," he promised. "I won't let anyone know that you like me. Certainly they will never guess. We're only getting married, after all."
"Even so."
His good spirits faded as guilt gnawed at him. He owed it to Lily to tell her the truth about himself.
"Lily Opaline." He spoke in his serious voice, but then paused, unsure how to continue. What if his secret disgusted her? She might not marry him. But she had a right to know before they took such an important step.
She leaned her head against his shoulder. "You're so warm."
"I have to tell you. You should know—about me…"
"Have you misbehaved?" Her laugh chimed. "Do tell."
"I'm serious." He wanted to tease her, to lose his worries in familiar banter, but he couldn't. If he didn't tell her now, he wasn't sure he would have the courage later.
"You sound somber," she said.
He forced out the words. "I'm not normal."
She snorted. "Well, I know you're not normal. I mean, really, I have never seen any boy eat as much as you do."
Exasperated, he said, "Lily, I'm extremely serious here."
"You sound terribly serious," she said amiably.
There was nothing for it but to reveal the dreadful truth. "I dance."
Silence.
"Lily?"
"You do what?"
"Dance." He waved his arms around. "You know. I spin and kick and jump around to music."
"But you can't dance. Men don't do that."
"I know. But I do. Every morning I have at least three hours of class with my instructors. Often more."
"Oh, that." She laughed, relief in her mood. "Everyone knows you exercise a lot. It makes you strong, good with a sword."
"Yes, well, 'everyone' doesn't know all of it. Lily, I dance. Classical, mostly, but some modern and jazz."
"What is jazz?"
"An art form from the world Earth."
"You are making fun of me."
"No. It's true." He stopped, unable to voice his next question. Will you still marry me? What if he repulsed her now?
She spoke uneasily. "I don't like this game."
"It isn't a game."
"Men don't dance. Only women." In a matter-of-fact voice, she added, "And, Vyrl, you are definitely not a woman."
"No, I'm not. But I dance." He shifted her in his arms. "Before my mother ran for election to the Assembly, she was a ballet dancer. Men among her people perform, too. No one thinks them strange."
Lily was silent again. Apparently he had appalled her beyond speech. She kept her mind well guarded, shielding the worst of her revulsion. He hadn't realized she could raise mental barriers that strong.
Finally she said, "I've never heard of such a thing."
"Do you hate me now?"
"Hate you? Saints above, what
a thing to ask."
"Will you answer?"
"I could never hate you." She sighed. "Although sometimes you do truly drive me crazy."
He squinted at her. "You think I'm crazy?"
"Broadie Candleson told us once that he saw you spinning around, like you were dancing. We laughed at him."
"I was dancing." Vyrl felt as if he were poised at a chasm. "You haven't answered me."
Silence.
He couldn't believe his stupidity. Why had he opened his fool mouth? If he had never said anything, and never danced again, she would have never known. Now he had lost her because he had to make his blasted declaration.
Lily spoke slowly. "You must have to hide it all the time, always watching everything you say and do."
"Always."
"Do your parents know?"
"Yes. Also my brothers and sisters."
"But they never talk about it?"
"Not outside the family." His brother Del-Kurj gave him a hard time, but only in private. In a family of empaths, it was too obvious to everyone how much it meant to Vyrl; they knew how deeply it would hurt him if they ruined his joy in dancing by letting people outside the family ridicule him. He could sense her pondering, but the unusually strong guards around her mind made it impossible to judge how much his confession had repulsed her.
"Will you show me?" she asked.
He blinked, confused. "Show you what?"
"Your dancing." She relaxed against him. "If you have trained so much, for so many years, you must be very good."
"Saints above." Lily wasn't hiding her revulsion. She didn't feel it. That couldn't be true. It couldn't be. Could it? In a voice tight with his fear of rejection, he asked, "Does that mean you will still marry me?"
She pressed her lips against his cheek. "I would marry you if you were a beggar in Tyrole, if we had to sit in the market pleading for food."
He tried to answer, but his voice caught. So instead he held her tight, unable to speak.
"Uh… Vyrl." Her words came out strained. "I can't—breathe."
Mortified, he loosened his grip. "Hai, what an idiot you fell in love with."
Her laugh trilled, rippling over him like water. "You are a force of nature, Vyrl, sometimes stormy and sometimes sunny, your moods changing as fast as the wind, but you are most certainly never an idiot."
Irresistible Forces Page 16
