See Prologue (A) for Disclaimers

Chapter Eleven

Slowly, the world settled back around them.  He let himself drop on top of her and withdrew almost reluctantly from the haven of her body.  He moved slightly to one side, his arms cradling her, his mouth moving softly against her face and hair.  Rhianna let out a long, utterly satisfied sigh and nestled against him.  Her hands moved gently across his skin, caressing like the wind, her lips placing a gentle kiss against his forehead.  "Better?" she asked lightly.

Dar chuckled and nodded, his arms drawing her close.  "Better," he confirmed.  "The link is closed again."  He paused, then murmured into her ear, ". . .Thank you."

Rhianna smiled and rested her cheek against the top of his head.  "No," she said.  "Thank you." She chuckled softly.  "There are some things one cannot wait an eternity for."

Dar laughed.  He lifted his head and looked down at her, frowning slightly.  "Will you never tell him?"

Rhianna smiled but answered sadly, "He already knows.  He just won't admit it to himself."

Dar sighed and kissed her softly.  "The more fool he," he told her quietly.

Rhianna smiled.  They rested in one another's arms for a long time and drifted off into pleasantly exhausted sleep, barely remembering to draw a loose fold of Rhianna's dress over their hips.  Neither of them were aware then, before, or after, that they were not completely alone.

Ordan stood at the very fringe of the copse, staring at the lovers.  Moonlight shone down on them through the trees, turning their skin to alabaster and ivory.  Limbs tangled, arms about one another, her head resting lightly on his shoulder, one shapely thigh drawn partially up against his hip.  Ordan could not make himself look away, any more than he had been able to when they were making love.

He had followed them after the two had been gone for some time.  He had been worried about the BeastMaster, but the sight that greeted him when he passed the orchard, heard the soft sounds within . . .  Ordan had gone to see what was causing it, some part of him knowing perfectly well what it likely was, and had frozen in shock as he came into clear sight of them.  But what had truly surprised him had been the intensity of his reaction.  Even now, the images replayed in his mind, sent electric spikes through his body.

An answering desire would have been natural, despite the self-defensive way in which his mind had desexualized Rhianna after all this time together.  But it was not just desire he had felt, or that he still felt now.  It was overwhelming jealousy -- almost rage.  He had seen them together and wanted to rush forward, pull the slighter man off of her, claim her for his own as she knew she was -- as  he knew she was.  As he was hers.  They belonged together, always and forever, they needed one another, completed one another.  His broken heart had refused to let him see it before.

Illyana had been the love of his life.  Losing her had nearly made him lose his mind.  Only Jorek had kept him sane, kept him aware, kept him caring about anything in the world.  The golden mare with white-blonde mane and tail, and uncannily wise mind, had saved their lives and he had quickly taken to speaking to her as if she were human.  Even in his dreams, he had begun to see a pale-golden haired woman with kind, sad eyes.  And then, when they reached the Wood, the horse  became that woman.  Kind, wise, gentle, sad . . . beautiful.  So very beautiful.  Ordan had felt his heart soar towards her -- and he had trapped it in a cage of fear, and kept it so for these years.

Now the cage was crumbling from neglect, and the final chink was broken by the sight of Rhianna in the arms of another.  Dar would be leaving once Miren's baby was born, Ordan knew, but what if another like him came?  Another who gave Rhianna what she needed, what she wanted, who was not afraid to love her?  Ordan would lose her forever.  And now he suddenly knew what that would be like: a lifetime of feeling as he did at this moment, but unable to do anything to change it because his choice had been made.

Ordan's expression changed, becoming one of firm resolve.  There was nothing to be said or done this night -- not without causing a great deal of embarrassment to one or more of them -- but tomorrow . . .   No more being afraid.  No more living without having all of her, without giving her all of me. The cage broke apart and his heart flew free.

From a spot not too distant from him, the air shimmered, invisible to human sight.  As Ordan turned to the path and started back towards the square, Pelagia smiled.  None of this was expected -- she had only wished to look in on these children -- but there was nothing here of which she could truly disapprove.  Love, as well as any divine influence, often moved in mysterious ways.  The mother goddess smiled softly to herself and vanished into the night air.

~*~*~*~

Shallan was lost.  He knew it for about an hour before he would admit it to himself, but by then the night had long since settled and the Wood was a silver-lined tangle of possible paths.  Shallan was not the wisest of boys, this little venture had proven that much even to him, but he had been taught well.  When he realized he was lost, he searched for a climbable tree that would protect him from any hostile animals and settled into its branches.  Still, that did not mean he stopped being afraid.

The Wood had always seemed like a mysterious place, full of exciting adventures just awaiting a brave soul -- but that was during the day, and in the company of knowing adults.  Now, however, he was alone and the night was full of unfamiliar sounds and rustlings.  It was a testament to his exhaustion and fear that he eventually fell asleep, but the rest did not last long.  Shallan was, unfortunately, not a particularly far-sighted boy either -- he forgot about a little thing later to be known as gravity.

He forgot about tying himself to the tree . . . and fell out.

The fall stunned him more than it hurt him, but after the fears he had experienced the previous night, it was just about too much for his spirit to handle.  The softly glowing eyes that looked down at him curiously didn't help.  Shallan stared at the tiger for a heartbeat before his mind decided this was just absolutely the final straw and shut down.

Ruh looked down at the young boy, concerned and amused as the child stared at him and then promptly fainted.  He shook his mane critically and snorted to himself.   Humans.  A tiger cub would never have reacted like this: self preservation was not aided by fainting at the first sign of danger.

The great tiger settled back on his haunches and regarded the child who had nearly landed on him.  He considered informing Dar, but he could sense through the link that the young man was . . . occupied at the moment.  If Ruh had been human, he would have smiled.  That wasn't the only thing that he had sensed through the link, albeit distantly, and Kodo and Podo's irritated response told him he wasn't alone in either connection or opinion.  But then, they hadn't known better.

Ruh let out a low rumble and lowered himself onto his belly.  This was no place for a child to sleep, willingly or no, and if the boy could not watch out for himself, then Ruh supposed he really should do it for him until his parents made an appearance.  He regarded the child curiously.  It didn't look like one of the children from Wood's Heart.  It didn't smell like one of them either.

Which means it must be a wandering youngling from the village outside the Wood.  Ruh sighed.   Oh, hell.

This was going to mean trouble.  He definitely couldn't call on Dar.  The BeastMaster would wish to either take the boy to Wood's Heart, which would compromise the village's secrecy, or else he would wish to personally return the boy to his family, which would lead to all sorts of questions he would have difficulty answering.  No, Ruh decided, it was much better to leave the boy where he was.  His family would come looking in the morning (Ruh hoped) and he could have a nice little innocent tale to tell.

Upon reflection later on, Ruh would realize that he really shouldn't have expected it to be that simple.  Things in a Wood touched by magick seldom were.

~*~*~*~

Eleni trudged through the brush and dead leaves, going ever farther into the heart of the Wood.  As she walked, her body already aching from the full night of keeping the tavern, she muttered, "When I get my hands on that child. . .  Put him over my knee, I will.  . . . Should have done it to his mam, mayhap that would have put some sense into her head. . ."

She kept muttering as she walked.  It was the only way to keep her mind off the pain in her knees and back, and well away from the panic that had been trying to overwhelm her since she discovered Shallan missing an hour ago.  There was no doubt in her mind where he had gone; he had been listening intently to all the conversations about the strangers, and his mam had looked at the Wood with just such a look of mischievous curiosity.  He was bound to get himself into all sorts of trouble, even if he were fortunate.

Eleni had been little more than Shallan's age when she had had her own first adventure in the Wood.  She remembered how terrifying -- and then utterly amazing -- the experience had been.  She had never been afraid of the Wood after that long ago day, when the Witch had taken her hand and led her back to the edge of the forest.  What Eleni had not told her grandson of that story, however, was that she had stopped and turned back, and seen the Witch being gently led back herself by a girl who looked only a few years Eleni's senior.  Eleni had asked her if the lovely young-seeming woman was alright, and the copper-haired girl had looked at her with pupil-less eyes and replied that she was back in her Dreaming.

Looking back on the event now, Eleni supposed that Niirin had wanted to frighten her off, but the then-child had felt nothing but deep sympathy.  She had looked at Niirin and solemnly told the shapeshifter that she would not tell anyone of what little she had seen within the Wood.  And that she would come back and bring the Witch and her Hidden Folk something with which to thank them for their kindness.  She kept that promise, returning a week later with a round of cheese and a packet of flower-seeds for their gardens.  The Hidden Folk had been bemused but grateful, and one woman had given her healing herbs in return.   And that was the beginning, Eleni thought with a smile, more than forty years removed from that day.

She had never told anyone but her youngest grandchild the story of her adventure, but she had defended the Wood anytime foresters had a bad time in it.  And no one ever guessed where she really got her stock of healing and flavoring herbs, sticky sweets, and the huge mushrooms everyone loved so well in her stews.  They simply assumed the days she went out of town with rounds of cheese, loaves of dark bread, and bolts of cloth -- received from other villagers in payment or trade for other things -- were spent in trade with someone she chose not to name lest others cut into her business.  Not that anyone would have cut into anything that was Eleni's business; she was too well liked and respected for such a transgression.

But now Shallan had gone traipsing off into the Wood -- at night no less -- and Eleni knew it was no place for unattended children, any more than any forest was.  And she also knew that she could bring no one with her for the search, for there was no one she would trust with the safety of an entire settlement.  So she had pretended Shallan was in bed and fast asleep then snuck off herself, like a child, to follow what she could of his trail in the dark.  And prayed that she got him back before daybreak, when their absence would be noticed and questions would be asked.

The moon and stars were bright above her, but all it seemed to do was create a different kind of shadow.  Eleni was starting to feeling a trace of panic when a voice spoke from a tree-branch almost directly above her.

"Still not learned your way through the wood, have you, girl?"

Eleni whirled, one hand going to her breast, where her heart was drumming out a jig.  The branch was shadowed, like the rest of forest, but she could see a human outline.  It was almost unnecessary: she'd have recognized that young-sounding voice anywhere.  "Niirin!" she gasped.  "Blast it, sprite, haven't I told you not to sneak up on me like that?!  My heart isn't what it once was!"

A soft chuckle sounded and then Eleni heard a rustle of movement as Niirin leaped down from her perch.  "As it always was is your heart, girl," the sprite said, smiling as she moved into a clear patch of light.  "Strong and true, and full of mystery as our own Wood."

Eleni smiled and shook her head.  "I meant," she said with a chuckle, "that it is not as hale as it was even ten years ago.  I'm an old woman now, Niirin."

Niirin grinned.  "To have made the Eiron blush with her teasing as his friends say, no "old woman" could have done."

Eleni frowned.  "Who?"

Niirin chuckled.  "Our newcomers.  Passed through your village, they said, and that you did offer them great hospitality."

Eleni's eyes widened slightly.  "So they  are here, then?"  She shook her head.  "I knew they seemed too comfortable with the thought of traveling through the Wood to intend to just pass through it.  Is the girl well?"

"Quite well.  Last I saw of her, dancing as light on her feet was she, as if already the child had been birthed."  The sprite smiled widely.  "And doting on her every moment was her Eiron friend -- almost as much as the women of Wood's Heart."

Eleni smiled.  So that was why the forest was so empty this night: there was a party.  "They intend to stay, then?"

Niirin shrugged.  "The lass and her babe, at least.  Escaped from cruel masters, did she -- a tribe of warriors, who value a woman for what pain and pleasure they can take in her bed only."  Eleni winced; Niirin's eyes were hard with her opinion of such humans.  The sprite continued, "The others, I do not know.  The BeastMaster will not remain, I do not think.  Other responsibilities has he."

"The --  You mean the tall boy with blonde hair?"

"And blessedly few clothes," Niirin confirmed, smiling.  "Speak with the animals can the boy."

Eleni chuckled.  "They sound as if they fit in well, in any case."  Then the tavern-keeper shook her head.  "But that is not why I am here this night."

"As much did I guess.  Nothing bring you to trade, and dark with worry are your eyes.  What trouble brings you to the Wood?"

"My youngest grandchild, Shallan.  He has apparently decided to go off on an adventure."  Eleni's brows drew into a frown of worry and aggravation.  "Into the Wood."

Niirin's eyebrows rose.  "At night?  Alone?"  Eleni nodded, still frowning.  Niirin chuckled as she shook her head.  "What is it with your progeny, Eleni?  None did inherit your sense?"

Eleni sighed.  "I do not know," she answered sincerely.  "At times I think a curse was placed on my family of which I had no knowledge."

Niirin laughed.  "Perhaps then leave him here we should -- some sense into his head it might bring."  But she motioned towards a path Eleni recognized.  "Come.  The Wood is large, and to enlist the aid of the BeastMaster is the best way to find your lost youngling."  She added, eyeing the woman critically, "And dead on your feet look you."

Eleni sighed.  "I feel it," she concurred softly.  "The day has been long -- and my heart," she said wryly, "is not the only thing not as spry as it once was."

Niirin smiled gently.  "Then rest you shall while we find your small one.  And glad to see you will the children be; missed your tales have they."

Eleni smiled back at her.  "No tales tonight, I fear."  Her eyes grew serious and she continued, "Niirin, there is not much time.  We must find him before daybreak -- for your sakes as well as Shallan's.  I gave Lothal a draught that will make him sleep the night through, but if my husband wakes in the morning to find me gone, and Shallan not in his bed . . ."

Niirin nodded.  "I know," she assured the human woman.  "But find him before then we will, my friend, and you both rested and returned home, with laughter and some jams to take with you besides we shall have."  She patted the taller woman's shoulder comfortingly.  "I promise you, Eleni.  I promise."

(continued)

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