Doira'Liim (The Beautiful Whisper of the Goddess Saga) (49 page)

     Talliea was quiet for several minutes as she allowed Arizira's words to settle in her mind. She gently grasped the hand that was still entwined with her own and brought the delicate knuckles to her lips. Kissing each one with utter reverence, she sought Arizira's eyes once again. "What would be our course if we both left our people, Ari? What path would we walk? Where would we live?"

     Arizira closed the space between their bodies and easily wrapped her hands around Talliea's neck. Kissing the side of her mouth, Arizira rested her forehead against the taller woman's. "Well," she started and her voice had resumed its playful cadence, "our course would be one of our own choosing. Mayhap, given time, we could bring about a unification between our peoples. The path we walked would be with one another."

     Talliea smiled, her fears becoming less, and wound her hands around Arizira's slight waist. Pressing her fingers into the small of her love's back, she asked, "And where would we live? In a cave for the remainder of our lives?"

     "No!" Arizira replied, laughing softly." We could establish something more permanent. I know nothing of building a home out of solid rock, as your people do, but I could teach you of Arniran homes."

     "You mean, we would live in the trees?" Talliea asked, lips unable to keep from smiling.

     "Yes, if you wish it. We could each learn from one another."

     Talliea made a show of contemplating the pros and cons of their future together. Arizira giggled and tangled her hands into the wet hair about the base of her neck. "You still need to instruct me to use a bow," Talliea said pointedly.

     Pressing her body against Talliea's, Arizira moved her hands until they rested on either side of her lover's neck. She turned Talliea's head slightly and kissed the protruding line of jaw that was exposed to her. "We have been otherwise engaged,
failira
," she whispered hotly in Talliea's ear. "On the morrow, I will begin your lessons."

     The two of them laughed and soon grew silent once more. They held each other tightly, hands and fingers tracing the soft contours of skin in a search for completion. The night grew. Gloaming faded. The moon remained high overhead.

     "You would leave your people to be with me?" Talliea asked after a moment. She held Arizira's body against her own while her hands glided over the curve of fragile shoulder blades. She still could not believe the speed with which Arizira had healed from her wounds. To this day, she had no answer for such a swift recovery. Arizira still held true to the belief that Talliea had healed her in some way, but that idea was without merit. Talliea had no such abilities.

     "I would do anything to be with you. If you ask it of me, it is done," Arizira replied, her lips and nose brushing across Talliea's shoulder and the curve of her neck.

     Stifling a moan that wished to be free, Talliea attempted to maintain her focus. Arizira's gentle touches and beautiful declarations were making it difficult to think straight. She felt the erotic nip of teeth against her skin and her hands on Arizira's back flexed. "That is our plan, then? We shall remain together no matter the cost?"

     "Yes. To be away from you would be a slow death for me, Tah-li. I would be unable to function. You are my
Doira'Liim
. I believe this to be true. Where you are, I shall also be."

     Talliea opened her mouth to add her own words of love and devotion, but came up short for a sufficient reply. Instead, she only smiled happily and held Arizira closer to her. The Arniran woman dropped her head down to her shoulder as the two of them enjoyed one another in silence.

     A distant and very faint sound came suddenly to Arizira's keen ears. She jerked her head back up no sooner had it landed on Talliea's shoulder. "Ari?

     Arizira moved away from Talliea and opened up her senses fully to the forest around her. Her eyes, bright and glowing fiercely, examined and regarded every inch of the area around her. Her perceptive ears took in each animal cry, insect chirp, fallen leaf, and brush of wind. Despite being aware of more than Talliea, Arizira felt as if her senses were...numbed. It seemed as though they were disconnected somehow. She paused and wondered at the unusual feeling. What power could be the cause for such a phenomenon?

     "Ari?" Talliea questioned again, "What is wrong, love?" Still looking around the trees and deep shadows, Arizira shook her head and released a slow breath. "I do not know. I thought I..." her words trailed off as she felt her disconcerting feeling continue to rise.

     "Thought you what?"

     "Nothing,
failira
," Arizira replied, not wishing to alarm her companion. "Let us return. I believe something in the forest watches us this night."

     Talliea had been with Arizira long enough to know when to trust her instincts. Looking around the darkened woods, she felt a shudder pass over her body before moving up behind her love. She placed a hand on the smaller woman's shoulder and swallowed an anxious bout of nerves.

     "Come, Tah-li. I shall lead you back. The sun's return is but a short time away. Sleep is soon." Talliea nodded and allowed Arizira to pull her toward dry land. As they dressed, Arizira could not shake the feeling that eyes were upon them and danger was somehow close at hand.

             
                                                        *  *  *  *  *  *

     Lao'dahn looked over at the wolf that sat beside him. The beast had led him for a day and a night to his current destination. Curious, for sure. When he had come upon a small ledge that overlooked a dip in the forest below, he had been amazed at the sight that greeted him. A cave, sitting up on another rising across from him, dusted the landscape with a multitude of dancing shadows. Following the ledge he'd been on farther down, Lao'dahn had noticed, not far behind the cave, another hot spring steaming in its perceived seclusion.

     Yet, that had not been the most startling of his discoveries.
Who
was in the spring had been what most intrigued him. The moon above was unusually bright this night and its light had afforded Lao'dahn with a most welcome sight.

     Talliea. She was alive, but not alone. Another was with her. A woman, but a very peculiar woman in appearance. What type of creature was the fair-skinned woman? Her hair was not dark, her skin was not bronzed, and a strange luminescent glow surrounded her eyes. Whatever she was, she was not a child of Esuval. She was...something else. Were there others like her?

     Lao'dahn had not been able to ponder such thoughts for long. His attention had been ripped from him as he had watched the two women bathing. And...kissing? Talliea was...

     No. Talliea was disobedient. She was unruly and wild and defiant, but she was not a sinner. She could not be giving her body to that woman! Could she? Such an act was a defilement. It was abhorrent and disgusting! It was an act Esuval could not, and would not, condone in any way. Talliea needed a man's guidance. She needed to be cleansed and purified.

     Holding the wolf's intense blue eyes, Lao'dahn watched as the two women left the waters of the spring and went about drying and dressing himself. He allowed his eyes to travel across both of their bodies, Talliea's longer than the other woman, before lowering himself closer to the ground. They were heading in the direction of the cave. His time was nigh.

     Talliea was his.

                                                        Chapter 33: The Separation

     Something was wrong. Things felt...off. There was something happening. Or was it about to happen? What had interrupted her sleep?

     Talliea opened her eyes. Their dark brown depths were wide as they tried to focus on her surroundings. She blinked in an effort to clear the sleep from her vision. The sun was already streaming shafts of light down to the forest floor. It was morning. Or early afternoon.

     Taking a deep and calming breath, Talliea rolled over onto her side to face Arizira. The sight that greeted her caused her heart to slam into her ribs. A wolf, large and white, sat next to Arizira. Its eyes were blue and its coat a flawless white. As Talliea swallowed her initial shock, she realized that she did not feel threatened by the creature. She felt almost safe.

     "Ari?" she whispered, keeping her eyes locked on the wolf. "Ari-sera, wake up."

     Arizira did not awake. She did not stir. Her chest continued to rise and fall in a steady pattern that denoted a deep and peaceful sleep. Why did she not respond to Talliea's request? Talliea attempted to reach over to shake the sleeping woman, but the wolf lowered itself over Arizira's body. Its head landed against a slowly rising chest while its muzzle brushed across Arizira's shoulder. The gesture almost looked like one intended to guard another, but why would the wolf feel the need to protect Arizira from her, if in fact that was what it was doing?

     "You keep her in slumber," Talliea said as her eyes looked from the wolf's blue eyes to Arizira's face. "Why?"

     How such a thing was possible, Talliea did not know. Her sense of danger, of something being wrong, was still persistent but she now knew it had nothing to do with the wolf resting against her love. Whatever had ripped her from her sleep was not inside the cave. It was outside.

     Somehow, she knew that the wolf would not harm Arizira. This creature, she suddenly became aware, was the same creature she had seen before. It watched over them, just as it was watching over Arizira now. Talliea felt a pang of panic at the possibility of having to face whatever was outside alone. Arizira was the one trained in weapons and combat. She was the one, out of the two of them, that had keen and amazing senses.

     What could Talliea hope to accomplish if something with malcontent truly was lurking outside
? Does it matter?
her inner voice spoke up.

     If something was intent on harming either of them, whether beast or man, Talliea knew she would do anything to protect Arizira. Anything at all. For reasons unknown, the wolf was keeping Arizira asleep. How she knew that, Talliea was unsure. She felt compelled to search the area just outside the cave, as though her actions were already determined. The wolf's icy and chilling stare seemed to be forcing her to search for answers.

     Looking down at Arizira's peaceful and beautiful face, Talliea felt a renewed sense of purpose. This woman was her life. Her love, her trust and her perfection. If anything was hiding about outside with the intent of bringing either of them harm, then Talliea knew she had to keep Arizira safe.

     She sighed. She was being ridiculous. There was nothing wrong. She was with Arizira and Arizira was safe. Her thoughts were nothing more than the frenzied lingerings of dream like images and yet...

     She could not shake the feeling that she stood upon a precipice watching events unfold in her life. She could not ignore the nagging sensation that there was something wrong. What was she supposed to do? Leave Arizira and take a look around their borders to satisfy her own misgivings?

     The wolf caught her attention again. In its eyes, Talliea knew somehow that events were in motion. For better or for worse, she had to leave the cave. Whatever was happening was bigger than she was. She had to move forward.

     The wolf turned its head slightly and twitched its ears, eyes continuing to analyze Talliea's every movement. She swallowed a nervous lump that had formed in her throat. The atmosphere inside the cave felt off and heavy. It left her with a foreboding sensation. Leaning over Arizira and the wolf, she placed a soft kiss against Arizira's temple. Little did she know, the kiss would be a last.

     "I'll return shortly, love," she whispered. To the wolf she said, "Whatever your reasons, Ari holds your kind in reverence. Protect her."

     She exited the cave and stepped into bright afternoon sunshine. The sun was high overhead and she noticed snow beginning to melt in certain places. The sound of dripping water, of snow, falling upon leaf and rock came to her ears. She looked around the wooded area and tried to locate the source of her unease. The forest appeared as it had every other morning she had awakened. Apart from the snow melting early, which was certainly an oddity, there was nothing she could see that would explain her feeling of trepidation.

     A flock of birds flew above her. Birds of prey. The beat of their wings against the wind temporarily muffled all other sounds. She watched them span across the sky in a  v-like formation before disappearing far to the west. Walking away from the cave and Arizira, Talliea took careful steps toward the high ridge north of her location.

     The closer she got to the ridge, the heavier her feelings got. Whatever was wrong, whatever sought to cause her and Arizira pain, was on that ridge. She stopped, her breathing loud in her ears, and tried to make out any shapes along the ridgeline. She greatly wished Arizira would wake up so she didn't have to continue alone. A part of her argued that she should just turn around and go back to the cave and wait for her lover to awaken.

     The other part of her fought against such a choice. The wolf kept Arizira asleep. The why was unknown. All Talliea knew was that she was supposed to overcome this challenge on her own. She felt like a pawn in a game, her actions mapped out and decided long before she had ever been born. She tried to argue with herself, but it was useless.