Dralin (10 page)

“No, it’s two ghosts. They’ll probably leave
us alone. Ghosts aren’t that dangerous anyways. There are other
things a lot worse.”

“Probably? . . . Worse? . . .” Sheela had a
death grip on his arm by that point and he was pretty sure that if
anything came at her, she would probably crawl up his back and over
his head to get away.

“Here’s our destination,” Frath told her,
pointing at an ominous building ahead. It was an ancient two-story
church with a tall steeple at one end. Dark stones made up the
walls and it had a red, iron shingled, A-frame roof that was
rusting. Past rains falling on the roof had left red trails down
the stone, making it appear as though the church was bleeding.

Crows stared at them from the eaves and the
low stone wall surrounding it. Frath led Sheela past a rusted iron
gate lying ineffectively on the ground nearby. The sparse grass was
brown and covered with a dusting of snow, while the skeletons of
trees looked as though they had never had leaves.

“This doesn’t look like a very pleasant
place,” Sheela said apprehensively.

“Well . . . yes and no. It’s a safe place
for me though. I found it when I was very young. I ran away from
some guys who were going to kill me.” They reached the arched
double doors, which were grey with black carvings of crows
surrounded by curving rose stems. The petals on the roses were
purple as were the eyes of the crows. It was the only color on
them, but Frath had never figured out what material it was. He
opened the left door easily. Neither door ever made a sound, which
had always fascinated him. “I went through that tunnel back there.
The guys weren’t brave enough to follow me into the district. It
scared me too, but I knew I would die if I went back, so I tried to
find another way out.”

Inside were twenty rows of dark stone pews
to either side. A pure-black stone statue of a hooded woman
kneeling on a dais was at the end of the aisle. When they entered,
the statue looked up with glowing purple eyes that radiated vast
power throughout the church. Sheela gasped, wrapped her legs around
Frath’s waist and grabbed his shoulder in an attempt to scale his
height. Frath felt the statue gaze into his soul before it went
back to its praying position.

“Fraaaathhhh!” Sheela wailed in terror.

“It’s alright. We’re welcome here,” he
reassured her. It didn’t do much good. Her feet hit the ground, but
she buried her face in his chest and trembled from fright. “This is
the Church of Distra, Goddess of Sorrow. I like her a lot and she
tolerates me.”

Sheela looked up at him, brow furrowed in
bewilderment. “Goddess of Sorrow? I’ve never heard of her.”

“Most people haven’t. She doesn’t like for
people to know about her.” Frath thought about it for a moment. He
looked down at Sheela. “Don’t tell anyone about her, actually.
She’s letting you in, but it’ll upset her if you go around telling
people.”

“Oh . . . alright.” Sheela let go of him,
relaxing more quickly than he had expected. She stepped forward
down the aisle a little bit, folded her arms and stared at the
statue for a moment. The statue didn’t react. Frath stood there
quietly, waiting to see how Sheela would respond.

She walked up the aisle a little ways,
looking around at the tall arched windows along the wall. Multiple
pieces of red and purple glass were set in iron framework within
each window. “Frath, is there someone here?”

“No. There’s never anyone here. Why do you
ask?” Frath looked around carefully to see if anyone else might
have shown up.

“The candles are lit.” She pointed at iron
candleholders lined along the wall and at tables with stepped
shelves to either side of the statue. They all had candles with
violet flames that flickered dimly, making the shadows dance
slowly.

“No. Those are always lit. Distra’s divine
power keeps them aflame.” He walked up to her, put his left hand on
the small of her back and his right hand on her shoulder. Frath
wanted to be close to her, but mentally vowed he would immediately
back away if anything made her uncomfortable.

She leaned back into his hands, showing no
discomfort at all. “I’m curious why you like Distra instead of
another god.”

“I’ve seen a lot of bad things in my life.
They make me sad to the point where my entire body hurts. When I’m
here, that hurt feels good.” Frath ran his right hand slowly down
her arm to the elbow.

She turned unhurriedly and put her own hands
on his waist. “It feels good to hurt?” she asked in confusion.

“You say it differently than I mean it, but
yeah. When I went through that tunnel the first time and found this
district, strange things happened.” He ran both hands up her arms
to her shoulders. It pleased him a lot when she moved hers up and
down his sides even with the chain shirt muffling the sensation.
“Things started appearing on the streets. They were hunched over
like those things we saw outside.” Using his right hand, Frath
caressed her cheek and neck, drawing a soft sigh of pleasure from
her. “Then I saw a couple of Deformed down another street. Ghosts
didn’t just stand behind the windows, they floated through the sky.
Even with all that, I wasn’t willing to go back. I ran until I
found this church.”

“How old were you?” Sheela asked. She pulled
at his shirt and sighed in frustration at the chainmail
underneath.

“I was eight. Let’s go upstairs.” He took
her hand and led her around the raised dais. Along the back wall
were a few rooms and a door that led to a spiral staircase with
purple-flamed candles in brackets on its walls. They went up that
to a corridor on the second level above the church. From there he
took her to the end of the passage where there was a silver door
with gold etching. It was the only bright thing in the entire
building. As far as he knew, it was made entirely of silver and
gold. The etching was similar to the entry to the church, with a
crow and rose stems.

When he was a child, it had been locked.
Then one day after he had been coming for a few years, it suddenly
opened for him. Now he had access to every room in the church,
including the basement with its secrets.

“What is this room?” Sheela asked as they
entered. She looked at a dark tapestry that took up the whole wall
to the left. It was a crow and roses motif like nearly everything
else about the church. More iron candleholders were lit, two
against each wall of the big room.

“I don’t know. It was a sleeping quarters of
some sort. There’s a hole in the roof over there.” He pointed at
the far corner to the right. “But other than that, it’s still in
good shape. I have blankets and pillows over on this side,” he told
her, pointing behind them at the opposite corner near the wall the
door was on.

“How often do you come here?” Sheela asked,
walking slowly over to the hole in the ceiling.

“Ohh . . . I don’t know. Until I met you, I
came nearly every day I had off. Before that, I used to come here
whenever I could get out of the orphanage.” Frath moved behind her
and put a hand on the small of her back again. “Distra lets me
practice my swordwork in one of the empty rooms down the hall. Once
I learned how to fight, I spent as much time as possible
there.”

The clouds suddenly parted, letting the full
light of Piohray through. It was said that Piohray’s light had an
intoxicating effect that aroused passion within lovers. “Are we
going to spend the night here?” Sheela asked throatily. The
moonlight gave her skin a beguiling pink cast that he wanted to
caress. He turned her to face him. The look in her eyes was
completely wanton, the moonlight having amplified her natural
desires

Frath knelt on one knee and pulled a ring
out of his pocket. He had a habit of talking to the statue of
Distra when something was on his mind and had told it about Sheela
after their date the week before. When he was finished speaking, he
had looked at the base of the statue where a small box had
mysteriously appeared. The ring was inside.

“I know we just met, but I love you with
every nerve of my body . . . and my heart too . . . and my soul . .
. and mind . . . I love you with everything.” The proposal wasn’t
going as well as Frath had expected, but that wasn’t going to deter
him. “I want to marry you . . . but I won’t if you don’t want to .
. . I mean I won’t force you to do anything . . . or marry me . . .
or anything else if you don’t want to.” He hoped he had just
proposed, but thinking back, it had been confusing and he might not
have. Sheela just stood there staring at him. Even though there
were thousands of things Frath wanted to say, he decided to keep it
simple. “Will you please marry me, Sheela?”

She stared at him for a moment longer before
nodding.

“You will?” he asked just to be on the safe
side.

“Yes. I’ll marry you.” She smiled.

“Oh . . . great!” That sounded lame even to
his ears. “Thank you.” That sounded lame too. He put the ring on
her finger and studied the perfect fit for a moment. It was silver
with golden etchings of crows and roses, much like the door. “I’ll
take you back to the inn if you want me to, but I’d like you to . .
. spend the night with me here.” He stood. “It’s safe. Nobody
bothers Distra.” Sheela’s silence was unnerving him. “Will you
spend the night with me? . . .”

“Only if you take that metal shirt off.” She
poked him in the chest with a finger.

Frath quickly shucked the tunic, chain and
thick undershirt that protected him from the metal links. They got
stuck over his head for a moment, but he yanked them off fiercely
and stood in front of her.

Sheela ran her hands through the dark hair
on his muscular chest and stomach. It sent tiny bolts of lightning
through his body and he drew in ragged breaths to help fight off
the goosebumps that suddenly appeared. She leaned forward and
touched her lips lightly to his chest.

He took a deep breath and ran his hands up
her arms and shoulders. He could smell the faint raspberry scent
lingering in her hair and inhaled deeply. Then he slid a hand down
to the small of her back, which he was realizing was one of his
favorite places to touch her, and the other into her hair. He
tilted her head up to his and leaned over to kiss her. Her lips
parted for him and he kissed deeply. A brief thought crossed his
mind that he was surprised she didn’t react negatively after what
she had been through. It disappeared when she opened her mouth more
and he pulled her even more tightly to him.

They finally broke the kiss and stood there
gasping. At some point, the clouds had swallowed the moon again,
but they still radiated with the pink glow, allowing the mystical
power to flow. Frath dropped to his knees and ran both his hands
down her body to the backs of her calves. He pulled her dress up to
her thighs. Then he stood and lifted her so they were face to
face.

Sheela gasped and wrapped her legs around
him. Frath carried her over to the blankets, enjoying the feel of
her breath on his face and the look of desire in her eyes. He set
her back on her feet and undid the clasp of her cloak, letting it
fall to the ground while she resumed running her hands up and down
his chest. Frath then bent his knees again and grabbed her dress
near the bottom. He gradually pulled it up, giving her time to
protest if she became uncomfortable.

He studied every inch of her skin as it was
exposed, wanting her more and more. Sheela raised her arms above
her head to let him take the dress off completely. He slid his
right hand behind her to its favorite resting place and pulled her
close. They kissed again, savoring each other’s taste and
touch.

Frath lowered her gently to the blankets,
resting her head on one of the softer pillows. “The first time
hurts some. If you don’t want to . . .” he left the question
open.

“I want to. I want to very much.” Her voice
was deeper and thicker than he had imagined it could be. Frath
removed his sword belt, stood up and removed his trousers as well.
Her eyes widened when she saw him naked.

“I’m not willing to force you . . .” Frath
insisted. Sheela reached her arms up and bit her lower lip in
anticipation as he positioned himself. Even though he entered
slowly, she cried out.

From that point on, Frath watched closely
for signs of distress and listened carefully for the word no. She
never uttered it and her expression quickly turned to pleasure as
he moved back and forth above her. Wordless sounds of ecstasy came
from their throats. Sheela’s body bucked underneath his as they
climaxed together in the perfect culmination of love, both crying
out with abandon.

Eventually, he rolled onto his back and she
rested her head on his chest while draping a leg and half her body
over his. “That was so much more wonderful than I thought it would
ever be. My mother always told me it would be nothing but pain for
the rest of my life.”

“I’m sorry your mother suffered like that,”
Frath told her sadly.

“Thank you,” she replied quietly.

They lay there for a bit and Frath stared at
the ceiling. “Do you really want to marry me?” he asked
eventually.

“Yes.” Sheela didn’t say anything else, but
kissed his shoulder. Then she kissed it again before moving up to
his neck. Frath lay still while she kissed his chest and stomach.
Before long, they were making love again.

The influence of Piohray’s light was said to
drive lovers to feats of stamina not possible at any other time.
When they put their clothes back on the next morning, neither had
slept at all.

Chapter
6

Sheela tucked the corner of the sheet
tightly underneath the mattress. It had been a little more than
eight months since Frath proposed to her and they were the happiest
of her life. The fact that they hadn’t been able to get married yet
didn’t make her any less happy that she would soon be having a
baby. Purla had already agreed to let Sheela keep the child in a
crib in the basement and was giving her a little extra free time to
care for it. It helped that Sheela was such an excellent
worker.