Of Gaea (24 page)

Nasya worried over Ari. She should not have been as sick as
she appeared. Unless there was something else in play Nasya didn’t
know about.

Kleisthenes had been annoying with his insistence he know
where she was going.
He knew, of course, that she knew where and what
Ari was up to. She hadn’t relented in give him the information. Ari
needed this, as much as Nasya needed it for Ari.

Admittedly it was unfair to Sasha.
Even Nasya could see that he was
slowly fading away. He would survive until Ari was ready. Her
primary concern was Ari not Sasha.

Ari went in and out for the next several days.
She had no idea
when or how they left the lake. Nor did she have any idea where
they were. Not that it mattered.

Every time she woke Nasya was there. She did what every
mother does when their children are sick. She made sure Ari drank
something she barely tasted before passing back out
again.

Only half the moon hung low in the dark sky.
At least that was
the first thing Ari noticed when she was coherent again. And, she
was starving.

Nasya laid nearby, but by the look of her she was fast
asleep.
Ari
didn’t want to wake her, so she crawled silently out of her
sleeping bag. She didn’t question where the cargo pants and snug
tank top she was wearing came from or the fact that she was clean
when last she remembered was mud from the lake.

Ari spotted the tent a few feet away.
She knew why they weren’t
sleeping in it when she inhaled the clean, cool air. It felt good
to be outside again.

The fire was banked low and the cooking stuff stacked
neatly next to it.
Nothing was smoking over the low flame, and granted,
nothing should be without attention. There were all sorts of
predators that loved free meals.

Ari peeked into the tent and found her pack was sealed in
an air tight bear bag; her bow and quiver sat against it.
She didn’t want to
risk the wrath of bears over trail mix, so she left the pack alone
and grabbed her bow and a single arrow.

From next to the fire she picked up the Swiss army knife
then looked around.
They were camped among the trees, the fire in the little
clearing and the tent and sleeping bags were in the arms of the
tree roots. Ari could hear water lapping quietly at a shore
nearby.

She turned in that direction and walked.
She felt different.
More aware. Ari could hear the squirrels in the trees. She could
hear the steady beating of an owl’s wings. There was an occasional
rustle from the bushes made by rabbits, foxes and the
like.

Ari warily stepped over a snake that didn’t even glance at
her.
It was
as if she was just another part of the forest to him. Perhaps she
was. Possibly he could sense she was different in the same way she
could sense Tainted and Pure.

Ari found the source of water. A lake rested on the edge of
the trees. A lake so vast she couldn’t see the other shore. The
sandy shore was a new experience to her as she crossed it to the
water. Ari knew they weren’t in West Virginia or Virginia with a
sandy beached lake.

Ari waded out into the water until it was knee deep. It
wasn’t cold, for which she was both surprised and thankful. From
where she stood the wind was blowing at her. Nothing would smell
her as they approached the water.

Ari studied her surroundings as she waited.
Her eyes were
sharper than she remembered them being. It wasn’t just her eye
sight that was completely clear.

She felt completely at peace.
She stood knee deep, bare foot in an
unknown lake, waiting patiently for a meal and she was completely
and totally at peace. If nothing else had convinced her that she
belonged to the earth, that moment would have.

She still stood statue still in the water as the sun slowly
came up over the mountain.
She smiled as the light hit the surface of the
water and turned it into a diamond. It was warm light, warmer that
it should have been for late March.

A cracked twig snapped her attention back to the
shore.
She
saw the wild turkey, still in the trees before he saw
her.

“Thank Gaea for her bounty.”
Ari murmured before drawing and releasing
the arrow. She didn’t miss.

Nasya found her later, on the shore with a gutted and
roasting bird over a new fire.
Ari had also done some scouting and had
some edible roots and some wild greens and wheat stuffed into the
bird.

“We’re a few months early for Thanksgiving I think.” Nasya
commented as she sat beside her.

“Never too early to give thanks.”
Ari rotated the bird. “Should be done
soon.”

“No time like
the present to get started then.”

Ari looked at her and smiled. “Yes. I’d like
that.”

A
RI LOST TRACK
OF THE
days.
Truthfully, she didn’t even bother counting them. She could have
stayed forever in those mountains with Nasya and have been okay
with it. There was so much to learn - so much that had been denied
her - she felt as if she’d never learn it all.

They hunted and fished.
Nasya didn’t just teach about Gaea but
about everything connected to her. Not completely everything, there
was only so much one could learn in the time they took.

Ari learned control, which was very important.
Being emotional
could destroy a lot of things. Not that she had been emotional of
late. But it was definitely something for Ari to keep in mind for
the future.

It was also important to understand every action had a
reaction and most, could not be undone.
Ari learned to think faster and
calculate pros and cons on the fly. It made every action important
and made it very clear why Gaea didn’t interfere unless
necessary.

Ari could, on a whim, bring down the mountains and turn
them to wasteland if she wanted to.
Which enforced another lesson -
responsibility. And because of that responsibility, she knew when
the moon turned full again over their heads it was time to go home.
She didn’t want to, exactly. But she felt a pull, a need to be
home.

When she began
to pack up camp Nasya didn’t say anything but followed suit.

“I feel like it’s time.
Like I need to be home.” Ari explained
quietly studying the area one last time. “You told me it was
important to listen to those. That my connection to the cycle could
be the difference between catastrophe and triumph.”

Nasya nodded and smiled. “I am always here. And you are
able now to protect yourself from outside influences. If you
weren’t, I’d caution against leaving.”

“I can’t hide
forever.”

“In reality, Ari, you never were.
Pure and Tainted can find you
anywhere but don’t generally manifest unless they have the conduits
to do so. They know you’re here, but we’re so deep in the mountains
they have nothing to feed their power to manifest.” She gestured
around. “It’s just Gaea out here. Remember that whenever you need
an escape. Find Gaea and you’ll find your out.”

T
HE FAMILIAR
TREES WEREN’T AS
welcoming as Ari had hoped. They felt tired. They had been
trampled through and taken a beating. It was disheartening in a way
to know the forests had been combed through for her.

Nasya didn’t come with her.
Or she didn’t visibly come with her. Now
that Ari knew what Nasya was, the Kirin saw no reason her to
maintain human appearance unless necessary. Not surprisingly, Ari
understood her desire to not hide behind a façade.

Ari stepped into Sasha’s backyard as she had done a hundred
times before. She walked over to the shed and opened it up to put
the camping gear away. Everything was put away and situated and
still no Kleisthenes on the porch.

Puzzled, Ari let herself into the house and down to Sasha’s
room.
She
knocked on the closed door, and jumped back surprised as it swung
open. Kleisthenes filled the doorway.

“You’re alright. You’re home.” He wrapped her into a bear
hug that she returned.

“I’m sorry to worry you. I needed…”

“Never mind that.” He pulled Ari into the room and gestured
to the bed. “You made it in time.”

Ari blinked in surprise and felt the rapid pulse of fear
beating in her ears.
She could smell something acrid as she stepped
passed Kleisthenes. What she saw nearly broke her heart in
half.

Sasha lay in the bed.
His eyes were closed and his breathing very faint.
His skin was pasty and white. The healthy, golden boy she had known
was gone. This was a frail, dying form.

“Sasha.” Ari sank down on the bed next to him. “Sasha, why
didn’t you tell me?”

He didn’t even acknowledge that she was there.
He didn’t move; his
breathing didn’t change. It was as if he was already
gone.

Ari laid her head lightly on his chest and cried.
“You promised. You
can’t do this. You promised.”

She reached out to touch him and flinched back. Ari sat up
and looked at him carefully. Her fingertips had just barely brushed
it, but it had been enough to burn like hellfire. And, it
identified the smell.

Thanks to Nasya she could see the webs of power.
Ari had the ability
to see what the Wiccans did, and the Druids. She could see what the
Pure did and the Tainted. Not all the time, of course, seeing the
webs all the time would drive her mad. But when it was important
enough to look she knew how.

Sasha was wrapped in a pitch black web.
It was obvious from its design
he had been the one bound to her, not Leonidas. Unless Leonidas and
he had made some kind of agreement Ari didn’t know about. Sasha was
going to die because she could walk again or at least he would have
if she had not known what she knew now.

Ari rested her forehead against his and pushed against the
Tainted web. “You won’t die today Sasha. I promise.”

“Ari…” Kleisthenes began.

She looked up at him for a second. “Gaea protects the
Faithful, and Sasha has been, forever faithful.” Ari looked down
into Sasha’s face. “Haven’t you? You’ve protected me. You’re dying
for me. Without asking for anything in return. You’ve sacrificed
beyond what you really needed to do, all this time. Someone has to
die, I can’t prevent that, but I can stop it from being you.”
Softly Ari brushed his lips with hers and flooded him with her
gift. “You are mine, Sasha. Forever and always.” Only Sasha’s ears
were close enough to hear the words.

“Ari…”

She looked up at Kleisthenes. “Watch. Wait.”

She watched the power of Gaea, her power, glow inside of
Sasha. It helped that he had a little bit of Gaea already. From the
inside out Ari watched the spidery threads shrivel like worms on a
hot sidewalk. They tangled with and then shattered under the
cleansing of Gaea.

Sasha gasped and jerked.
He convulsed into coughs and curled to his
side. Black liquid spewed from his mouth to the floor. He heaved
continuously until dry racking shook his body.