“Guto, have you ever truly looked at your reflection in a mirror?” His expression spoke for him. He didn’t get her point. “You are gorgeous. I think I salivated the first time I got a good look at you.”
He started turning beet-red. “I’m good enough to be your servant,” he began.
Her anger went from simmering to boiling in seconds. “Decide if you’re my husband or my servant. Decide it now, but know this. I’m about to dick-punch my servant. I’d never be so disrespectful to my husband.”
Covering his privates with his hands, he made his decision quickly. “I’m your husband. I’m definitely your husband.”
“Goddess….” Eurig stood in the doorway. He was sweaty and had dirt smears on his tanned arms. The leather armor he wore had tufts of grass stuck between its shoulder plates.
She asked, “Did you fall off again? Should I call Iago?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he walked dumbstruck around her, like a planet circling the sun. “I recall this color.” He reached out and let her hair slide between his fingers. “It was short and uncombed, like what might be expected of a boy with an aversion to baths. Never would I have dreamed.”
Bym gave him her brightest smile. “Drem found an ancient spell. I couldn’t be happier.”
He crowded closer.
Bym leaned back. “Eurig, you can have my affection after you’ve had a bath.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Has all of this glorious hair changed our Bym into someone else?”
“No,” Guto said. “Perhaps you have failed to notice, but a pile of horseshit broke your fall today.”
Bym nodded and wrinkled her nose.
“Goblin turds!” Eurig twisted trying to see.
Guto said, “Take it off outside. I’ll help you. Don’t turn! You’ll get it on the floor.”
Seductively, she said, “I’ll be waiting for you both in the bathing pool.”
Fantasies danced in her head about what hot things they might do to her in the cool water. As their footsteps faded, she strolled to the pool. She had always considered her hair to be one of her most attractive assets, but she hadn’t realized the extent to which it affected her perception of her femininity and desirability. She knew Guto and Eurig desired her. However, they had wanted her based upon her character, charm, and personality, and while that made their love all the sweeter, she really wanted them drooling because they thought she was smoking hot and sexy. She shrugged, not caring if it was vain. Smiling to herself, she entered the bathing chamber and carefully removed her dress.
Then, horrified, she cried out, “Guto! Guto!”
All of her guards came running. Gethim and Hopcyn stopped short, finding nothing amiss. Iago hurried to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? Look at me! I’m an orangutan!”
Iago touched her forehead. She knocked his hand aside and gave him a dirty look. “I’m not familiar with that word. Can you tell me where it hurts?”
“Iago, look,” she said while trying to hide from Hopcyn and Gethim which only made them come closer. She whispered, “The spell worked everywhere.”
Gethim crouched and ran a hand up and down her leg. “Soft,” he said dreamily.
Iago asked, “What’s the problem?”
Frustrated with them all, she said, “Just bring me your razor.”
“You will do no such thing.” Guto’s voice boomed and echoed off the walls.
“Not for my hair. It’s for my legs. Don’t have a conniption.”
“No! Don’t do it!” It was unclear whether he was angry or might cry. His face was turning purple.
Iago, Gethim, and Hopcyn quietly excused themselves which completely threw her. “Excuse me? What is your problem?”
Eurig, shirtless and with bare feet, nudged him. “She doesn’t understand.”
Some of the purple faded from Guto.
Eurig said, “You’re our wife. Married women don’t shave. When a married woman shaves, it means she is divorcing her husbands and starting over. A flash of shaved leg means a woman is looking for new men. If you want one of those who are bound to you, tell him. We will welcome him, but please don’t cast us aside.”
Disgusted, she said, “It has absolutely nothing to do with weird marriage customs and everything to do with my personal hygiene! Ugh!” Lifting her arm, she pinched soft hair of at least an inch in length between her fingers. “Does this refer to underarms or elsewhere?”
They nodded their heads.
“Look. We need to compromise. I might be able to get accustomed to not shaving my legs, but I can’t deal with not shaving under my arms. I just can’t.”
Guto pointed a finger at her. “I’ll allow it on one condition.”
Deciding not to go off on him about allowing her to do shit, she asked, “What condition?”
“You never, ever hit me between the legs, ever.”
“Alright, Guto. You win. Now, will you please shave my armpits?” Her life was insane.
She’d gotten her way, but he’d refused to shave her bikini area.
“Why would you want to shave down there?” Eurig made a grab for between her legs which she thwarted with a shift of her thigh. He removed his pants and followed her into the pool.
She thought it had something to do with the beach but couldn’t remember. Whatever the reason had been had faded from her memory.
Chapter Eighteen
When night fell, Guto, Bym, and Eurig went for a stroll on the beach. Laughing, she ran from them, glorifying in the feeling of the wind in her hair and the starshine on her skin. They gave chase. Eurig caught her from behind, lifting her into his arms and spinning her in a circle. Then, the three of them collapsed together in a laughing pile on the sand.
“The longer she stays here and away from her true temple, the longer her torment will continue. This goddess of the Temporal Locum belongs to the stars, not the sun. Look at her, and tell me I’m wrong. Tell me all of the ways I’m wrong. Prove it to me, and I’ll encourage her to break her own heart by staying.”
Danior lowered his eyes from the scene he’d been watching on the beach. Tearing his eyes from her soft skin, glowing with starlight as she rode Eurig, took discipline. He turned his face to the Sorcerer who’d snuck up on him. “I can’t tell you you’re wrong. I don’t think anyone but a dishonest merchant could tell such a convincing lie. Bym belongs with the Umbra. There, I’ve said it. Now, prove to me how the Umbra can keep her safe from the goblins in the very places they dwell. The only way to protect her and the innocents around her is by keeping her here where they’d have to survive three armies to get close.”
“What if there was another way? What if there was a way to send the goblins to sleep?”
“I’d say you’ve been wasting your time searching for children’s stories in the temple.” He widened his stance seemingly ready to dismiss him.
“What if they aren’t fables?” Drem held his hands in front of himself, hidden within his sleeves. Only his neck and eyes were visible. The bottom half of his face was obscured by a demonic Umbra mask.
Danior didn’t want legions of Solis battling the Umbra for the Goddess of the Temporal Locum. His mother and fathers hadn’t wanted slaughter to herald Bym’s arrival either. From what he and his brothers had witnessed of Umbra warriors and their sorcerers’ skills, now that the Goddess favored their magics, he was uncertain if the Solis would be victorious. “Why are you telling me this?”
“We leave tomorrow in the dead of night on a quest for the Stones of Luna Ignis. You and your brothers command the Solis armies. For Bym’s sake, it would be preferable for you to join us.”
“Us?” A dangerous anger entered his pale-blue eyes.
“I know they come. You can’t hide the knowledge of it from me. I also know she won’t be left behind. If we were to try to leave her here, she would find a way to follow us. She would follow us alone and unprotected, and she would get herself into all sorts of trouble in the process.
I have foreseen it.” The imperiousness in Drem’s tone could have been cut with a knife.
Danior smirked. “No, you haven’t.”
“She’s a stubborn woman. I don’t need a vision to show me what she’ll do.”
Danior chuckled and turned toward the beach while Drem moved to stand at his side. Danior rested his forearms on the stone wall. The tall beach grasses growing in front of the wall hid them from view, but the moon illuminated those on the beach. Guto’s hips and buttocks, rolling and grinding above Bym, stood out against the dark waves. “I’ll speak to my brothers, but you won’t be leaving tomorrow night. If they agree to facilitate this fantastical quest of yours, every aspect of it will be carefully planned.”
Coldly, Drem said, “It has been.”
They watched as Eurig spread Bym’s hair out over the cloaks upon which they now held her between them. “If you’ve planned for everything, why do you really need us?”
“I don’t need you. She does. I’m convinced once I have the Stones of Luna Ignis that I can perform the spell and send the goblins to sleep. However, she still hasn’t come into her powers. She has accepted one of her halves and not the other. Discord will continue within her and in our world until she accepts the other, and they can merge peacefully within their host.”
“And our show of support and cooperation might be what the Goddess needs. If we are one people, striving toward the protection of our people, she might be able to merge the Temporal Locum without feeling as though she is being disloyal to either one or the other. She struggled to accept her own chosen mate once he embraced his true calling.” He gazed out at the lovers. “They know not to swim at night, don’t they?”
Drem shrugged.
After a discussion which lasted long into the night, Danior said, “Now, tell me something.”
Drem turned his dark eyes to the Solis commander.
“How can you calmly stand there and watch them together? You’re in love with her. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes to see or ears to hear. You’re bound to her. Why hasn’t she claimed you?”
Drem turned to walk away. Over his shoulder, he said, “She doesn’t understand. I understand much and can make any sacrifice for her safety and happiness. At times, I think she senses the push and pull between us. Guto and Eurig bring her peace and pleasure. For now, it is all that matters.” He faded silently into the shadows.
The next day, Bym sat in her temple, absently scratching at her chest where the twin snakes battled within her. The sensation was maddening, and at times such as this, she would beg Iago to use his healing magic and cut them from her flesh. To which, he would patiently explain the impossibility of her request. Distracted by the war being waged within her, she had failed to notice the arrival of those whom she’d summoned. Danior and Drem had coached her on what to say. It wasn’t long before the effects of those words reverberated throughout her temple.
“Goddess Bym, I beg you to reconsider! Stay here with us where it is safe. Don’t venture off into the distant realms. You mean to go where the monsters lie. They thirst for your blood.” Tivona sat on her knees and stared up at Bym, desperate to change her mind.
“Should you go, one who you hold dear will die,” Imani whispered.
Bym’s fingers dug into her own knees.
“Speak not such self-serving prophesies. Is there one amongst us who would not give his life to save countless innocents? Should our mission end in success, the goblins will sleep for centuries. How many countless lives would be saved during Goddess Bym’s reign?” Drem asked.
The priestesses closed their eyes and lifted their faces to the sun, but Bym’s fears turned the day to comforting night. Throughout the Golden City, people cried out in fear. Leaving her seat, she ran toward the entrance, wondering what she should say to them in apology. Before she could run down the temple steps, Saura and Arden drew her back inside. “They know the ancient stories. It will take time and isn’t something which can be rushed.” After comforting her as best they could, they guided her back inside.
Guto and Eurig took up positions at each side of her couch. After she again sat, Drem continued. “Cast the spell as Bym has asked of you. Send us through her gate. She and I both know the portal of Noctus Luna. From there, we will enter the tunnels and search for the Stones of Luna Ignis.”
“No,” Eskil said. The word was a hammer’s blow throughout the temple. He moved sedately around the kneeling priestesses, many of whom had helped to raise him and his brothers. “If she leaves the city, there will be chaos. Have any of you recently walked through our streets? Have you seen the fear in our peoples’ eyes? They realize for the first time in centuries that the Goddess has not chosen this as her temple.” He lifted his hands and gestured at the masterfully crafted pillars, artistic mosaics, and then pointed at the seat beneath the open atrium where Bym refused to sit.
He said, “Aurora has faded. Bym has been rescued and brought to safety. They fear her displeasure and the shifting of time, but to take her from the Golden City before she comes into her powers would have them rioting in the streets.” He focused his pale-blue eyes on Bym. No one interrupted him. The truth he spoke couldn’t be interrupted. It was an already crested wave.
Turning to Drem, Eskil said, “Find the Stones of Luna Ignis and bring them to her here. Should you try to sneak her from the city, her worshippers, innocent citizens, will interfere.” Turning back to Bym, he asked, “Do you want their blood on your conscience?”
She stared into his eyes and knew he was right. They were always watching her, fascinated by her. Girls and boys snuck away from their chores or play to catch glimpses of her. Someone would see if she were to attempt to leave. As a boy, no one had paid her any mind. Now, even dressed as an Umbra with a mask and cloak, she was too well-known to escape their notice. “No.” As she voiced the word, night was chased away by a gentle morning light. “However, if I’m not going, none of you are going. After this stops,” she rubbed at her chest, “and day and night return to normal, we’ll go together. They won’t have anything to fear because the goblins won’t be able to kill me. They’ll simply think I’m returning to my palatial home in the Umbra fortress.”
Eskil turned. His red cloak billowed behind him as he strode toward the temple steps. “I don’t know whether or not I believe your words,” he said as he disappeared into a crowd of parishioners.
With a look she couldn’t read from either of them, Danior and Fane followed.
They returned to the palace where Drem paced in annoyance. Eskil was far more stubborn than Danior had suggested. He didn’t know whether to be annoyed at himself for having confided in Danior or grateful at having a doomed plan thwarted.
They had been lounging about the palace with all of their plans in ruins when fear rose like an oppressive cloud over the city. The loud sounding of a great horn reached them even at the palace’s elevated perch. Eurig rose from where he sat beside her and took the warm touch of his hand on hers with him. “It is the call. I must answer it.”
Jumping up, she ran after him. “What does it mean?”
“It is an order to attend our posts.” He kissed her cheek and left.
Bym ran to the back of the house and up the steps to the roof where her predecessors had spent much of their time glorifying in the sun. She hurried under the canopy which Hopcyn and Gethim had one day erected so that they all could enjoy the space and looked out over the city. Soldiers had been called to the gates and walls, but she couldn’t see any threats against which they might have been called to defend. Before she could ask, Drem, Hopcyn, and Gethim left.
She turned to Guto. “Do you recall the cabinet we found, the one containing Aurora’s trinkets?” Once he’d nodded, she asked, “Will you please bring the glass to me?”
His departure was as silent as was his return. He handed the metal, conical tube to her. Lifting it to her eye, she adjusted it until the blurry images began to focus. From the direction of the distant mountains, they came. �
�No, it’s daylight…. How can this be?” Her voice was thick with fear, and the grasslands were speckled with the dark, slow shapes of her nightmares. She focused in on the closest ones and gagged, losing what had been in her stomach to the colorful tiles at her feet.
Priestesses rushed forward to tend to her as Guto snatched the magic spyglass from her hand and scanned the distant horizon. “Goddess,” he whispered.
The goblins had learned. They had learned to shield themselves from the burning sun with their own dead. They carried the burned husks of their dead over their heads like macabre cloaks or decaying umbrellas. As Bym had watched, a goblin protecting itself thusly had taken a bite of its brethren’s lifeless arm, and the vile, cannibalistic monsters were coming here to the peaceful Golden City by the sea to feast, and it was all because of her. Cavalry spilled from the gates. Their red cloaks flew out behind them. Spear tips glistened in a sun which she prayed would continue to shine.
“They said I’d be safe here. They said I’d be safe,” she said from her hunched position as the priestesses pulled her away and led her toward the steps.
“Our armies will destroy them. Have no fear. You are safe. All will be well,” Arden tried to assure her.
With wide, forlorn eyes, Bym stared at her. “No, it won’t be. It never will be.” She collapsed to the tiles, overcome with the futility of constantly defending herself against monsters with an unrelenting thirst for her blood.
“Arden, enough,” Tivona quietly pleaded. “Enough.”
Arden met each of the other priestesses’ eyes in turn and capitulated an argument or private discussion to which Bym had never been privy.
“Bym, look!” Guto rushed to her, pulling her from the priestesses who seemed to debate a silent topic.
“No, Guto, please. I don’t want to see. They come. They made it past two armies, those of Danior and Fane to get here. They come any time I find any peace. I want it to end. It could take years before I come into my powers. Until then, they can kill me, and you all would have to begin all of this anew. Even if I survive their attacks, who might not? What does that give us? It will mean years of this!” Taking her wrist from his grasp, she went to her knees and pressed her forehead to the white half wall which protected those on the roof.
Temporal Locum Page 25