See Part One for Disclaimers
Galen turned on his side, propped his head up on one hand and gazed down at her grinning face. Slowly he bent his head down and kissed her. The barest grazing of lips but it felt electric to his still ultra sensitive awareness. She did not move; he could detect no panic in her eyes. He repeated his soft salute, tasting the warmth of her parted lips, making no demands just expressing his deep affection.
He stood and held down a hand to her. "We should dry off, don't you think?"
She was watching him intently her lips still parted a slight flush on her cheeks. Taking his proffered assistance, she rose to join him. He could see her already tight fitting clothes were clinging uncomfortably and they made good speed out from the trees and into the valley's bright sunlight.
"How can you bear to leave this place," she said, finally breaking the silence between them. "This is so beautiful; it reminds me of my home. We lived in a small community, surrounded by mountains and trees so like this." She took a deep breath, exhaling softly. "I miss the smell of the trees. I miss feeling a breeze on my face and the wash of sunlight. If this were my home, I don't think I would ever want to leave."
He was saved from replying by a massive roar that echoed around the hills. Dureena tensed at his side as she scanned the area for the source. It came again, deeper, more threatening this time. Her hand flashed almost too quickly for him but he caught her wrist as it came down clutching the same wicked knife that had so recently been at his throat. "Wait."
"But, what is it!"
"Wait."
The animal was huge. Its head sat a good four to five feet above the floor, muscles rippled under its dense coat as they bunched and released on its headlong gallop toward them. Dureena struggled against his unrelenting grip. The beast slowed suddenly, then stalked toward them, its tawny eyes, so reminiscent of Dureena's, held Galen's as it made its approach. Similar to the Tiger that had been wiped out on Earth, the animal was cat like; red and black striped with a white mane around its massive neck. Growling deeply at each padding step it stopped within inches of their position. Ignoring Dureena it made a sudden lunge at Galen who held out his free hand to the giant. He could not let go of Dureena or the knife would even now be embedded in the creature's hide.
Butting its head into Galen's chest, it demanded his attention. Carefully dropping her hand with a caution not to move, he caressed behind its ears. His hands buried deep in its soft fur he soon had the animal rumbling in its own version of feline bliss.
"So, you have power over animals as well?" her voice full of laughter.
"The animal and I are good friends," he said, caressing the cat one more time. "We share the valley, when I am here. I found her as a cub when I first adapted this place, tiny little thing, half starved. This was all ice and snow back then," he reminisced.
"Technomancy did this?" She gazed around with renewed respect.
"Yes. My father had built my home from the ashes of a desert; I took a leaf from his book. The crystal caves beneath us concentrate the power required to shield this place from prying eyes, and to stabilise the environment."
"Tell me about him, about your father. Did he train you?"
"No. I didn't even know my father was a mage, until after his death." Galen's gaze rested on the far horizon as bitter sweet memories returned to his still sensitive mind. "After father built our community he put aside his technomancy. Though he retained his knowledge, he could not use it as before. You saw my implants?" His eyes caught her nod, and he returned it. "Without them, I cannot use my staff. I can affect certain things but not with such power as the staff provides. It enhances, magnifies the energy within me. He had them removed, turned his staff and flyer over to the Circle so that no-one could misuse the knowledge stored within them."
The house, far in the distance seemed to hold his attention as he gathered more recollections to him. "He was a great teacher. My love of learning came from him. Everywhere in our home books vied with us for space. Every chair, table, shelf and floor was littered with them. Oh, we had the usual terminals and data banks; but his love was books, the feel of them their individual characters. He was my mother's despair."
"And was your mother also a mage?" Dureena questioned, enjoying this rare open moment from someone, who up until a few days ago, seemed to be beyond anyone's touch.
Only hazy memories remained of her. Her soft voice chiding her father with relentless affection. Her presence warm and comforting to the young child who, after reading stories of ghosts and demons had spent sleepless nights shivering in his bed until she would come.
"No . . . no, mother was not one of our order. I wonder sometimes if that is why father left," he mused, his thoughts now far away from his valley and the woman walking at his side.
"Galen, I know this is an old argument between us . . ." she hesitated. "Would you teach me? Not everything," she hurried on, "just enough that I am at least some way in your world."
His fingers tightened in the big cat's coat where she paced beside him; her glowing orbs swung round to see why he had stopped his touch.
"I have seen so much, Galen. So much that I want to understand. So much about you that I want to know."
Sincerity laced her words, her obsessive anger seemed so far from her at that moment. The time was not yet right, he knew that, yet he also knew he would teach her; that she would be with him now on all his travels.
"Yes."
Her face lit up, and he hated to shatter her sudden elation.
"But, not until the mission is complete. We both need to give everything to finding the cure for Earth. I promised Matthew I would help, and I will. Agreed?"
Pursed lips greeted his statement, but she nodded her agreement.
By the time they reached home, their clothing had dried, and they headed toward the kitchen to eat and drink with Alwyn who had come out to greet them.
* * *
Later that evening they said goodbye to Alwyn. He had 'things to do, places to be" as he told them. Galen released the security measures for a brief instant as his dragon decorated flyer skimmed into the atmosphere. Alone, they ascended into the house.
"How about a guided tour?" Dureena had been eyeing the various paraphernalia cluttering his shelves, reading the obscure titles of hefty tomes.
Though sure that Dureena had been in every nook and cranny within his walls he yet ceded to her plea and took her around the house that he had built so many years ago.
Unlike the spartan habitat of his flyer, the house was crammed floor to ceiling with books and curios that he had gathered on his many travels. Dureena's fingers slid over statues and pottery, inquisitive and gentle. Begging the stories behind them. Each room received the same intense curiosity from her until they entered the room Isabelle had used for her personal studies. Here the atmosphere was subtly different; though still filled with books there was a definite feminine touch to the space. A spray of delicate glass flowers stood in the window, her cloak, hemmed around with runes still hung on the door; her clothes remained in the drawers. He could almost smell the subtle scent of her perfume -- he found himself reluctant to enter.
Dureena had headed straight for a wonderful glass ornament standing alone on the shelves. A massive eagle, wings spread wide, its beak open in a soundless scream, it seemed about to swoop upon any unwary traveller.
Watching from his place in the doorway, he held his breath as she picked up the wonderful piece. Afraid that any moment she might drop it or damage it in some way. Yet she was careful, handling it with such care and delight that he soon relaxed. Turning with a question already formed on her lips, she stopped and stared at him.
"Galen? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have touched it. It is so beautiful though. What is it, I have never seen a bird like this."
"When I was a boy the eagle hunted close to our community, I always envied its freedom, its power. It is a tangible reminder of my youth, a folly I suppose to times long past."
"You made this?"
He nodded.
"And the flowers?"
Again, he nodded, finding that words would not form. He felt a growing detachment from the situation seeping through him, like a wall surrounding and guarding him.
She returned the eagle to its perch and continued her exploration, though she seemed ill at ease. Picking up the top book from a pile that seemed doomed to topple, she read the first page.
"This is interesting, it . . ." Looking up, Galen had gone. Still with the tome clasped in her hands, Dureena followed, checking the few rooms on this floor.
Her words trailed him as he turned away down the corridor to his own room. She would have to sleep here tonight, he needed no rest and there was no other bed.
Aware of her presence he continued to straighten the room. Finding linen and making the bed, ignoring her questioning silence. He picked up his great coat from the chair; Alwyn had brought it up from the flyer earlier that day. As he hung it up his hand automatically dipped into the secret pocket and brought out the amulet. Then Dureena was at his side, peering over his shoulder at the glowing gem.
"It's beautiful," her voice soft, appreciative of the fine workmanship. "Did you make this too?"
"No." Bald, uncompromising, he could not take the hurt from his voice.
Seemingly ignoring his obvious discomfort, she let one finger trace the inlaid design.
"This is your rune, isn't it? Like the one you showed me downstairs?"
Words stuck in his throat. His regeneration had left all his senses so open and fragile that even now, hours after leaving the lab he still could not master his emotions.
"What does the other one symbolise?" Insistent, curious.
And then he found himself telling her everything that he had locked away for so long. Knowing that it was a huge mistake, yet if he did not reveal this secret it would hang between them, driving them apart. She remained quiet, tense, saying not a word. So unlike the Dureena he knew. When he finished, she rose quietly, announcing that she was tired and would retire. The blank look in her eyes hurt more than any words could; he would rather face her knives than this.
"Dureena . . ."
"Goodnight, Galen."
* * *
Hours later, he sat engrossed in study of the book Dureena had taken from Isabelle's room. The Well of Forever had dominated his lost love's studies and he had presumed this tome to be from those researches. Now, as he read the accounts laid out within its binding he realised that it could possibly hold the key to the Drakh plague. Fables, folk tales and legends passed down through the centuries, all were recounted in this one ledger. Isabelle had notated inside its cover, the place and date of its retrieval; the planet far out on the rim of charted space. According to the stories, this world had suffered a terrible blight, a plague that decimated its population through air born contaminants. They had triumphed, eradicating the disease within two years. It was a world he had not visited, had not even been aware of in his own studies so far off his travels was it situated. The Excalibur should visit at the first opportunity. He, they would leave tomorrow to rejoin the Matthew and his crew.
Laying the book aside, his concentration severed his mind flew back to the disastrous evenings events. Tawny eyes, bright with hurt still hovered in his mind's eye. He had been so stupid. Whatever his feelings for Isabelle had been they did not negate the emotions that ran through him for Dureena. Emotions that he believed had died with his mage lover so many years ago.
Sunrise on his valley, the glorious colours bathing his land and his soul, that is what he craved right now. Making his way up the spiral staircase into the house, he was struck by the intense quiet. Dureena should be asleep upstairs and yet the place felt empty. Closing his eyes, he searched with his mind through the house, no noise. Nothing! Running up the stairs lightly, his tread silent and swift he aimed his steps toward his room. The door stood open, the bed lay rumpled as though its occupant had spent a restless sojourn within its embrace. Clothes lay littered on the chair, along with her knives; her boots still rested under the seat -- she could not have gone far. His robe was missing from behind the door, though it would drown her slight form.
The rest of the house proved empty and he turned his search outside, worried now that the animals who roamed freely might take her for a snack, she was out there alone with no means of protection!
A red glow was beginning to lighten the dark skies to the east, soon the generous orb would top the mountain range and flood the valley with its warmth but at that moment, the temperature was far from pleasant. Barely discernible footprints headed out across the short grass toward the waterfall and he hurried after them his heart beating faster than he would like. Alwyn had warned him about getting close to someone outside his order, someone without their discipline, and yet he could not imagine himself involved with any other woman.
It was still murky within the shade supplied by the trees surrounding the waterfalls pool, though humid from the heat retained from the day before. Dureena was standing on the bank where they had rested so few hours before. Where he had kissed her, letting his affection take him one step closer to her heart. Now he felt a million paces away from her, though he could reach out and touch her from where he now stood.
"Don't creep up on me, Galen. I am not going to do anything foolish!" Her arms tightened around her body, clasping his silken robe to her like a blanket against the cold. "I have been foolish for too long, I thought . . . I thought I could mean something to you, that we could make this work. You warned me, I remember. If you had only told me about her before I would never, never have let myself hope." She drew in a long breath then exhaled a heart-rending sigh.
"Isabelle is my past, Dureena. I can't forget her, what we had was unique. Our relationship would be equally unique."
He closed the gap between them until they almost touched, but she kept her back to him, not letting him read her expression. He tried again.
"Being a mage has its drawbacks. I know and have seen too many things." Her taut back forced further confessions from him. "I feel isolated, alone. I don't want to be like that any more, Dureena. I need you to be there for me, as I will always be there for you. I trust you with my secrets, my fears I don't know what else I can do to prove myself to you."
"Trust? You tell me nothing. Would you have told me about her if we had not come here? When would you have let me learn from you?"
"When you had learnt to redirect your anger. I don't mind being the focus for that, if that is what you want. You have so much passion in you that is wrongly directed . . ." How to explain what she meant to him, how he believed in her.
"I thought you cared for me, a little."
He turned her around gently, his hands resting lightly on her shoulders, feeling her tremble through the thin material. Burning gold eyes tore into him, striking home deep in his soul. She was beautiful, desirable and totally at his mercy.
One hand trailed up to her neck, then caressed the soft skin under her hair whilst his eyes locked to her hers, turning a deeper grey as his emotions spiralled.
"Let me show you how much I care," his voice husky, compelling even as he saw her fear return. "Trust me as I trust you, Dureena."
She took a hesitant step forward, drawn by the hypnotic look in his eyes. Slowly his arms circled her, drawing her close his lips descended on hers, caressing and teasing softly until she returned his salute. Careful never to hold her too tight, not to wake her terrors of restraint, his hands made a delicate survey of her curves the sibilant whisper of flesh against silk the only sound in the glade.
The reader here has a choice between sticking with a PG-14 rating or detouring briefly into NC-17.
Five A contains a (full) love-scene before going on to the end of the chapter.
Five B goes straight to the end of the chapter.
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