He pleasured her, almost brutally, for a moment as he pushed aside her clothing that remained in the way, then his mouth moved up her body again as he positioned himself over her. Jo opened her eyes as she felt his head rise above hers and looked into his face; the naked excitement in his expression had a tinge of cruelty in it that frightened her.
Jo began to panic as the wind whipped over their bodies again and she felt the sting of icy raindrops beginning to fall. She trembled, partly from longing, but more from fear, and began to cry out for him to stop. In response his lips moved from her breasts to her mouth, and his tongue delved into all the spaces there, swallowing her pleas and breathing heat back into her. Then she felt a far more intense heat, and pain, as he drove into her, erasing her virginity and making her one with him in frenetic motion. She clutched his back, her fingers turning white, and gave herself over to the ferocious waves of carnal indulgence mixed with agony as he came further and further inside her.
His lips left hers and he began to keen, a harsh, animal sound punctuating the rhythm of his movements, driving her insistently against the ground and the rocks beneath his cloak. Jo cried out as well, screaming his name over and over, praying for it to end and at the same time dreading that it would.
Through it all the wind of the mountaintop roared around them and over them, muting their guttural cries and carrying them, like the voices of seagulls, down into the valley and canyons below. And the Firbolg who heard them took to whatever shelter they could find, fearing the coming of demons.
And then, when Jo was beginning to think about praying for death, it was over in a rolling fireball of climatic fury. He lay above her, motionless, and she held fast to him until she could move on her own again. And as she lay there she felt a creeping sensation, starting from their point of physical connection, wending its way through her body and soul, wrapping tightly around her inner core like a vine growing up her spine and spreading tendrils throughout the whole of her. The feeling reached all the way into her skull and grew out through the bone like a shaft of hair, then it dissipated.
She began to shiver. As she did the wind died down to a barely perceptible breeze, and he raised his head and looked into her face. Any of the ugliness she had seen in passion was gone. He smiled at her, then kissed her gently.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded, unable to speak.
“Good.” He disengaged himself, rose slowly and began to lace up his trousers. “You see, Jo, you are more than special; you are unique in the wide world. Now get dressed.”
As if in a dream Jo gathered the fragments of her shirt and fastened her torn trousers as best she could. She put on her vest with hands that trembled and watched as he shook the dirt from his cloak, drawing the mantle around his shoulders. Then he reached out and pulled her into his arms for a final embrace, carefully running a hand down the fall of her hair.
He walked her to the edge of the Cauldron, gave her a swift kiss on the head, and then sauntered off into the shadows of the Teeth. The darkness swallowed him up, and he was gone.
It wasn’t until she was alone, aching in body and soul, back in her chambers in Ylorc that Jo realized she had no idea what his final words to her meant.
Merry laughter was coming from the council room behind the Great Hall as Ashe returned to the Cauldron; the scent of roast boar and spiced apples hung in the air. The lamps had been lit, and the pungent aroma of the food and sweet smell of the wood fire were tainted by the caustic odor of burning fat. Lantern light made the room shine like a beacon in the dreary hallways of the Cauldron.
Upon his entrance Rhapsody leapt from her seat and ran to him in welcome. She had changed from her traveling clothes into a long fitted gown of pale green silk, so he knew she had been celebrating. As he bent to kiss her his glance caught Achmed’s gaze; there was a studied amusement in the surly eyes. He slid one arm around her waist and accepted the tankard proffered by Grunthor with the other hand.
“Good news, I take it?”
Achmed said nothing.
“Depends on ’ow you look at it,” said Grunthor.
“Where’s Jo?” asked Rhapsody.
Ashe looked around at the unlikely trio before returning his attention to Rhapsody. “I couldn’t find her,” he said.
He watched as the lovely face fell in disappointment, then clouded over in worry. “Maybe I should go look for her,” she said, turning to Achmed.
“Leave ’er be, Yer Ladyship,” said Grunthor, refilling his glass. “If she’d wanted to be found, ’e would o’ found ’er. Perhaps she just needs a bit o’ time to get used to, well, things, you know?”
“Don’t we all,” said Achmed.
Rhapsody was staring down into her glass, lost in thought. Ashe ran his hand gently down the fall of her hair, and she looked up at him and smiled. “I guess you’re right,” she said at last, then took Ashe’s hand and led him to his seat at the table.
She pushed the crockery and silverware aside and showed him the large parchment field map they had been working on in his absence. “Achmed and Grunthor have agreed to help us,” she said, smiling warmly at the two Firbolg. “We’re targeting the first day of winter.”
“That’s wonderful. Thank you. Thank you both.”
“Please,” said Grunthor, “Don’t mention it.”
“Please,” added Achmed, “Don’t remind me.”
They laid their plans late into the night, amidst drinking, dining and joking banter. Outside the mountain the wind shrieked and raged, and the dark sky cried icy tears for no one in particular.
43
Rhapsody, starlight shines through water all the time. It will be fine.”
Rhapsody looked at Ashe doubtfully. She was holding the sword near the surface of Elysian’s lake, watching the flickering light sparkle on the surface of the water and cast bright shadows into the depths below.
“What if I extinguish it? Oelendra will hunt me down and kill me herself.”
Ashe laughed and kissed the top of her head. “All right, if it’s going to cause you so much worry, perhaps it’s better if we don’t do this.”
Rhapsody peered into the water. Not far off shore below the surface she could glimpse shimmering stalagmites rising from the floor of the lake, glowing as the radiance from Daystar Clarion touched them. They gleamed in soft hues of green and blue; she was sure they were the beginning of an underwater field of the spiked formations, probably left over from before the cavern filled with water. The picture had haunted her dreams at night, and as a result she had been stalking the shores of the lake all morning, trying to find a way to explore the depths in the darkness of the underground grotto.
It was Ashe who suggested she take her sword swimming with them. He had broken into merry laughter at her horrified reaction as she imagined the ancient weapon of champions sizzling as it touched the water, then being snuffed out forever. He had tried to explain to her about the tempering process of swords, about the unquenchable light that had been ingrained in the weapon, but he could see she still was uncertain. He drew her into his arms.
“Aria, you won’t kill the sword, I promise. But if you are still concerned, let’s do something else. There are any number of interesting places to explore down here.”
Rhapsody smiled. She loved the time they had spent discovering the hidden treasures of Elysian. They had crawled through underground caves full of beautiful purple crystal formations, the light of Daystar Clarion illuminating the walls into feverish iridescence; it made the two of them seem trapped within a faceted gemstone.
Together they traced the hidden source of the stream that formed the waterfall and followed it to where it swelled through the rock. They had stepped into the stream and ridden it over the edge, plummeting into the lake below. And they had found a small underground meadow with rock walls surrounding it, rising a thousand feet or more to the open sky above, like a subterranean version of the one inside the guardian walls of Kraldurge. It was the perfect place to picnic in t
he sunlight, and to watch the stars at night. And to make love.
“No,” she said decisively. “I want to see this place, and if you’re sure it won’t hurt the sword, I’ll trust you.” She stuck the tip into the water. Below the surface its light changed from the licking flames that normally leapt up the blade to a radiant glow, but Ashe was right; it didn’t go out.
Rhapsody began to glow herself with excitement. “Come on,” she said eagerly, “get undressed.”
They shed their outer clothes and stepped into the water, frigidly cold until Rhapsody entered it. Then, as she willed her fire lore to put forth warmth, the water temperature rose in the area immediately around them, heating the lake like the summer sun would have if it could reach it directly.
“Here,” said Ashe, “let’s trade swords. Kirsdarke will let you breathe beneath the surface, being a water sword. I can breathe without it. If you don’t mind, that is.” He knew the natural reluctance to relinquish a sword like the one each of them carried, but he had not felt it himself just now.
Obviously Rhapsody didn’t either, as she happily handed him Daystar Clarion and took the blue-scrolled weapon he held out to her. The blade altered the moment she took it; the glimmering ripples that danced along its surface ran rapidly from the hilt down the blade and disappeared as if they had drained out of the sword. The faint light that had gleamed from the scrollwork vanished as well, and the entire sword suddenly became more solid. The weapon she now held was beautiful, the silver blade inlaid in elaborate patterns of turquoise, but it no longer appeared as it had in Ashe’s hand, where it looked as if it were composed only of water hanging suspended in the air.
“I killed it,” she whispered nervously.
“Oh, no!” Ashe gasped in mock alarm, then laughed at the size to which her eyes had opened. “I’m just teasing you, Aria—it’s fine. That’s what it looks like in any hand other than that of the Kirsdarkenvar.”
Rhapsody ran her fingers over the now-solid blade. “Are you sure I haven’t damaged it?”
“Yes; it’s fine. See, your sword doesn’t respond to me the way it does to you, either.”
He was right. Daystar Clarion now resembled a regular sword, gleaming intensely with the starlight that it had been imbued with, but no flames licked up the blade. Rhapsody’s brow furrowed.
“How very strange,” she murmured. “Both Achmed and Grunthor have held it, and the fire didn’t go out like that.”
Ashe’s eyes were touched with melancholy. “The piece of my soul that the F’dor ripped from me was the part tied to fire, Rhapsody. It left my soul void of that element, until you came into my life.” He smiled and put his arm around her, drawing her near. “The sword senses that, and doesn’t respond to me because of it. The only fire in my heart is also in my arms.”
Rhapsody kissed him. “Not for long.”
Ashe winced involuntarily. She was referring to her plan to hunt down the Rakshas and destroy it, retrieving the piece of his soul in the process. It was a thought that turned his stomach, so he drove it out of his mind, concentrating instead on his golden-haired lover and the world they were about to explore together.
“If you’re ready, let’s go. Just remember, whatever you do, don’t swim back to the surface too quickly, you’ll injure yourself seriously.”
“Understood.” She kissed him again and gingerly lowered Kirsdarke into the lake. Beneath the surface of the water the blade disappeared, leaving nothing visible in her hand but the hilt. Ashe smiled in contentment at the trust between them the exchange had demonstrated. Then he ducked beneath the surface. Rhapsody could see the light of Daystar Clarion still gleaming in his hand under the water.
She took a deep breath and centered herself before following. As soon as she was beneath the surface she was aware of a paradox—within the vast silence there was an almost deafening noise. The water was filled with subtle sounds, almost drowned out by a great rushing clamor that resembled a strong wind, but was clearly aquatic. It was alien to her ears, and very beautiful. She closed her eyes for a moment and traced the origin of the sound. It came from the base of the great waterfall that spilled from the rock outcroppings into the lake below.
Rhapsody floated upright in the water for a moment, eyes still closed, absorbing the sound of the underwater world, when she heard a strange baritone note, like the sound of a bell wrapped in linen. She opened her eyes onto a world of strange light and beauty, one in which certain colors seemed to have been taken away, leaving everything within it a diminished hue from what it would look like above the surface.
The noise she had heard was Ashe’s laughter, and when she turned to him she was amazed by his appearance. He floated free in the water, hovering slightly above her, illuminated by the crystal light of Daystar Clarion. His red-gold hair floated freely about him, moving slowly and metallically, reflecting the radiance of the sword. His skin was pale, as was her own, and his broad smile gleamed, his teeth resembling pearls. His eyes seemed the strangest of all, for here within his element, they shone like sapphires, blending in with the waves around him. Suspended in the water as in if in flight, holding the glowing blade of the stars in his hand, Ashe looked more like an angelic apparition than a man. Rhapsody’s heart swelled with the intense sensation that occurred each time she felt her love for him grow, and she caught her breath.
At once she was filled with a sense of panic, fearing she had breathed in water. She felt a mad desire to rush to the surface, to break back into the world of air, but fought it and willed the fear away, taking another breath. Calm returned as she found she could breathe easily in the water, and her panic was replaced by a giddiness at the wonder of the new world she saw about her. Ashe’s smile had vanished when he saw her struggle momentarily, and he was beside her instantly; she nodded to reassure him. Then he gestured toward the depths.
Together they swam to the middle of the lake, following the beacon of light the sword cast before them. About twenty feet off shore the stalagmite formations Rhapsody had thought she’d seen began to rise from the slanted floor of the lake, glimmering brilliantly in the reflected radiance. They were crystalline and smooth, unlike their jagged, toothlike counterparts above the surface, and gleamed in soft hues of pink, green and blue, with violet appearing more frequently as they swam deeper.
The stalagmites at the edge of the field ranged from tiny stakes up to Rhapsody’s knee to the largest ones that came up to her shoulder. In the depths they were vastly taller, some towering higher than the cottage would have been had it resided on the bottom. As the light from Daystar Clarion touched these formations they took on a magical quality, a soft, glittering beauty that was further enhanced by the encroaching darkness at the edge of the light. They gleamed for a moment as the sword hovered overhead, then slipped back into the inky black of the deep.
Ashe had been right again; with Kirsdarke Rhapsody could breath easily beneath the surface. She kicked to dive even farther down, following his lead. In this part of the lake the formations took on a lacier appearance, rather than the solid heft of the stalagmites at the field’s edge. The multicolored rocks became thin and wispy, with fragile extensions reaching out like ghostly arms in the darkness. In places the frail-looking structures bent from the weight of the water above them, resembling domes and arches. It made the stalagmite field look like a city formed from frosting and spun sugar, a resplendent realm for the dark fish that swam between the rocks, skittering away when the light touched them.
As they passed over a large structure of intertwined green and azure rock threads, a glint of silver caught Rhapsody’s eye. She signaled to Ashe, who nodded and dove to retrieve it from the floor of the lake. She followed him down into the enormous underwater basilica, born of dripping water and time, and looked around her in wonder. The upper expanses reached into the lake above her at a height that seemed similar to that of a real basilica, taking her artificial breath away. The sheer size of it astounded her, the thought of this hidden realm, this und
erwater land lying beneath the surface high above, as well as the thousand feet of dome above that, secreted within the hidden meadow of Kraldurge. It seemed a shame that such exquisite beauty existed, unseen and unappreciated.
Her contemplation was interrupted by a strong arm wrapping around her back. She turned to see Ashe hovering beside her, his floating hair gleaming in the circle of light. He looked up at the towering formations above them and smiled, nodding as she grinned in response. He leaned near and kissed her, holding the sword as far from their sides as possible. Then he gestured toward the surface.
Reluctantly Rhapsody nodded as well, and swam behind him as they slowly ascended to the air, following the slant of the water as it grew more shallow. They had not gone anywhere near the deepest part of the lake; she could only imagine what treasures were hiding down there in the constant night.
As they retrieved their clothes from the shore, Rhapsody looked at Ashe and smiled. “What did you find down there?” she asked, pointing to the metal object in his hand. He held it out for her inspection. Rhapsody gasped, then burst into laughter. It was the trowel she had been digging with in the meadow when she and Achmed had first discovered Elysian, though it was almost unrecognizable with the coating of pearlescent rockthreads that had attached themselves to it.
“You’ve seen this before?”
“Yes,” Rhapsody said, shaking the sand from her clothes. “It’s the reason we found this place. I was planting seeds of heartsease in the meadow above to drive away some of the mournful sadness that hung in the air there, and the ground just swallowed the trowel. I could almost swear I heard it belch. It must have fallen into the lake through one of the holes in the firmament that let in the light.”
“That’s one for the museum,” Ashe commented. He looked at her as she wrapped herself in one of the drying cloths they had left on the lakeshore. Her wet hair was gleaming in the dim light that filtered from above, making her look like a sea nymph smiling at him. He took her in his arms.
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