Savage Splendor (Savage Lagonda 2) (36 page)

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My heart is now soaring, I care not for the past.

Happily I surrender: I have come home at last.

Tajarez entered the room. Seeing Mara slept, he took care not to make any noise as he undressed and slipped into bed beside her.

It was dark in the room when Mara awoke. She felt the bed shift as Tajarez lay down and pulled her into his arms.

"I did not mean to awaken you, beloved."

Mara snuggled closely to him, loving the feel of his strong body against her soft curves. "You must be very tired yourself, my love. You got little sleep last night."

"I am a man who does not require a lot of sleep, Mara," he said nuzzling her ear.

"I love you, Tajarez."

"You are quite sure?"

"I have never been more sure of anything in my whole life. Through all the dark days I have been through, my love for you was the only stable thing in my life."

"I would like to hear you tell me what you mean."

"I am not sure if I can," she said, lifting her head to rest it on his shoulder. "I am not sure if you will believe me. Sometimes I do not believe it myself."

"What, Mara?"

"I had these dreams about you when I was with Jake and Zeke. One time you and I were swimming in some kind of pond. I was frightened, and you told me that you would not let anything harm me. Later when the dream was gone I was actually wet, as if it had really happened to me." She tried to see his face, but it was too dark in the room.

"Mara, I think I was in that dream with you. Did I beg you not to leave me?"

"Yes."

"Did you have any other dreams about me?"

"Yes. Once I walked through the snow barefoot, to a tent where you were. I knelt beside you and saw that you had such sadness in your eyes. I wanted to comfort you, but you could not see me. I do not blame you if you do not believe any of what I am telling you."

"I do believe you, Mara. I remember one night while I was searching for you. I had begun to think I would never find you. I was alone in my tent, and I cried out for death to release me from my torment."

"That was the night I came to you, Tajarez. I heard you say you did not want to live. What could it all mean?"

"I remember that night I felt a presence. It was as if I could smell the fragrance you always wore in your hair, and after that night I did not feel quite so desperate."

Mara ran her hand across Tajarez's chest, "Do you suppose this happened to us because we love so deeply, or was it . . . because of the old man who came to me in a vision?"

Tajarez turned her over and tried to see her face. "What old man, Mara?"

"I do not know if he really existed or if he was a figment of my imagination. But whenever I put the golden medallion on I would see this old man, and it terrified me at first. Later, I would feel comforted by him."

"That would be Sagas the wise, Mara."

"Sagas. That is the man Jeffery said gave me the medallion."

"Yes. Sagas has the power to do many things, Mara. I believe he was trying to comfort you and me, while striving to bring us together again."

"How is that possible. No man could have that kind of power."

"Sagas does, Mara. You once knew about his powers and believed in them. I think Sagas located you through the medallion and sent Matio to find you. Matio said while he was searching for you, many times he wanted to give up, for he had no clue where to look for you. He said some force kept driving him on. That force would have been Sagas."

Mara shivered. "It is all so unreal. Why have I not met this Sagas?"

"He is in the mountains. I myself have searched for him, but if Sagas does not want to be found, no one can find him."

Mara searched her mind to remember what Sagas had looked like. He had been a shadowy figure when he had come to her, and she found she did not know what his face was like.

"Tajarez, tell me about when we first met."

His hand rested against her stomach and he could smell the sweet, clean scent of her hair. "Mara, the first time I saw you was in a dream. I was a young man then, only sixteen summers. When I had that first dream you could have been no more than six summers, but in my dreams you were a woman. When I would awake from dreaming of you, I could never remember what you looked like, although I would try very hard. You see, I hated the white race. I had only seen one white man, his name was O'Malley, and he had been the cause of my mother's and sister's deaths."

"What did he do?"

"My father had found O'Malley half frozen and had brought him to the hidden valley. O'Malley remained with us for six years. I was very small when O'Malley first came to us. He taught me to speak English. He would sit for hours telling me about the wonderful things in the white world, and next to my father, I loved him best. One day O'Malley found my father away from the City. He slew my mother and forced my sister to leave with him. He had laden four pack horses with gold and furs and used my sister Terza as a shield to get past the guard. My father hunted O'Malley down and he died a long and agonizing death. As a result of O'Malley's treachery, I began to hate the white race, and I swore to my father I would never allow any white man to enter the hidden valley."

"How sad. I am grieved about your mother and sister."

"Mara, I have come to know that O'Malley served a purpose. He taught me to speak English, so when I met you we could speak to each other."

"You said you first saw me in a dream?"

"Yes, many times. I grew to love the beautiful woman in my dreams."

"Tell me about the dreams?"

"The dreams were always the same. I would pick you up in my arms and lay you on the bed beside me. When I would hold you close you would begin to fade, and I would beg you not to leave me."

"Tajarez, how is it possible to see someone in a dream before you have met them?"

"I do not know, Mara. Perhaps I saw you in the same way you dreamed of me."

"Do you think Sagas caused your dreams?"

"Yes, I am sure he did."

"Tell me more. When did we meet?"

"Mara, it is the law of the Lagonda that the prince royal must go on a quest to the outside world, living off the land and not speaking until he returns to the Seven Cities. Hamez will one day have to make that quest, just as I and my father did and his father before him and as far back as the history of the Lagonda is recorded. Before I left on my quest my father had been urging me to take a bride from one of the maidens of the tribe, but I could not find one whom I could love. My heart was filled with love for the woman in my dreams."

"Even though you could not remember what I looked like when you were awake?" Mara asked in amazement.

"Even though I could not remember your face, I knew that I loved you. I felt one day I would meet the woman of my dreams, and I would know her at once."

"Did we meet while you were on your quest?"

"Yes. While I was on my quest I dreamed of you each night. I suppose it was because our meeting was close at hand."

"This is all very unreal, Tajarez."

"I know it must seem that way to you, but sometimes there are happenings that cannot be explained by everyday rules. Our love and our meeting is one of those."

"Tell me about when we first met. Did you know me at once? How did I react to you?"

"You had been abducted by two Indians. When I first saw you, you were fighting for you life. You had one of the men's knife and had stabbed him in the arm. I saw that you were in trouble and I killed both of the men who had held you captive. I could not tell what you looked like, as you were covered in mud, and at first I did not even like you, because you belonged to the race I had sworn to hate."

"What did you do with me?"

"I took you with me because I could not just leave you to die in the wilderness. I did not like even to touch you."

"How strange this all sounds," Mara said, trying to imagine herself as the girl Tajarez spoke of. "Then what happened, Tajarez?" she urged.

"I made camp that night and was forced to sleep beside you and share my robe with you so you would not freeze to death. The next morning I left you and bathed in the river, wanting to wash every trace of you from my body."

"Did you make love to me?"

Tajarez laughed. "No. I hated even the thought of touching you, and I was on a quest and forbidden to lie with a woman."

"I see, or I think I see. Tell me more."

"Well," he said, trying to think about his story when his mind was shifting to the soft skin that brushed against his body, "when I returned to camp, you too had bathed in the river. When I saw you were the woman of my dreams, I felt as if I had been struck by a lightning bolt from the sky. You were my love, the woman I had dreamed of, and you belonged to the hated white race. I had never seen hair the golden color, nor eyes of green. Can you imagine how I felt? You were my love, and you did not know me."

"Oh Tajarez, what a beautiful story. Did you bring me home with you?"

"I am skipping much of the story. I took you to a fort and left you, although it tore at my heart to do so. It was as if I had left a part of myself behind."

"But how did I get here?"

"It was not until a year later that I found you. I had searched for you, not knowing where to find you in St. Louis."

"You have not said. Did I love you at that time?"

"Yes, you did, beloved. You told me before I took you to the fort that you loved me."

"Why did you leave me and then come back for me? I do not understand."

"When I returned home, Sagas demanded to know where the Golden One was."

"Who is the Golden One?"

"You are the Golden One, Mara."

"I do not understand."

"Mara, there is an old prophecy that was given my people hundreds of years ago. For long years the Lagonda people have waited for you to come. I will quote you the prophecy."

When the Golden One comes there will be peace and plenty

The past will be revealed to the few and the many

One man will die; another shall weep.

There will be love where the Golden One sleeps.

"What does it mean, Tajarez," Mara asked, feeling uneasy about the prophecy.

"Mara, since you have come to us our crops in the fields have been abundant. Never has the hidden valley known such bounty. And you have been helping Sagas reveal the past."

"Do you mean the hieroglyphics?"

"Yes."

"Who was the man who died?"

"That would be my father."

"And the one who wept?"

Tajarez was quiet for a long time. When he spoke, Mara could hear the anguish in his voice.

"I was that man, Mara."

She touched his face softly, "Why did you weep, Tajarez," she asked, unable to imagine him weeping.

"I do not want to speak of it, Mara. I am not proud that I wept like some woman. Loving you has caused this weakness in me."

Mara could hear the pain in his voice, so she decided not to press him. "Tell me how we were married."

"I married you once in your brother David's home in St. Louis, and then again here in the City, where my father made you my wife."

"Tajarez, I married you twice, and I have loved you twice."

"Never stop loving me Mara, for if you do, I could not live."

"Tajarez, I loved you even when I did not know who I was, or who you were."

He kissed her cheek and his hand moved up to her breast. "No more questions tonight, beloved," he whispered. His hand closed over her breasts that were swollen with milk and Mara cried out, since even his gentle touch was painful to her.

"I am sorry, beloved. I should have remembered how painful it was for you when you weaned Hamez and Tamera."

Pushing the strap of her petticoat aside he tenderly brushed her swollen breasts with his lips first one then the other, in such a beautiful gesture that Mara's heart melted.

"I will let you sleep now, Mara. You must be in pain from the fullness of your breasts."

Mara did not want to sleep. Her body wanted to find a oneness with her husband. She could now allow herself to surrender to him with no feelings of guilt. Her hand traveled over his chest, feeling the tautness beneath her fingers.

"Mara, I would not continue if you wish to find sleep," he said in a raspy voice.

She smiled to herself, feeling a surge of power. She was finding out that she had the power to move this man. Her hand drifted down to his waist, and she turned her head to find his lips. At first his lips were unyielding, until her hand moved over his firm, flat stomach.

"Mara," he groaned as his lips covered hers, devouring her mouth with a savage kiss. "I warned you," he said, rolling her over and covering her body with his.