As Rienna stood up on the wall, a place she had taken to watching the growing army prepare, she concentrated on her breathing now and found it was matching the rhythm of clashing swords in the practice yard below, just as Redric (her father’s friend but her dear mentor) had taught her so many years ago. She had felt wistful for those days when her only worries had been proving herself to be just as good as the boys and devising ways to annoy Belias. Belias was a hard thought to clear once it planted in her head, but just this simple act of breathing was proving to be a big help.
Krose had been mostly avoiding her since they had talked that day and it had bothered her how convinced he was that her and Ashe had something between them. Just knowing that something hung there that she wasn’t quite ready to grasp made her avoid Ashe. He would smile that agonizingly knowing smile and keep his distance, just wave and go about his business. Some days she still wanted to slap away that smile, but she remembered the way his lips had felt over hers and she would have a hard time shaking that thought. She didn’t like that at all. It was way too dangerous to get lost in anything for even a second.
Rienna had always been disgusted by women who got lost in romantic fantasy. Although she wasn’t entirely convinced that this was about romance at all. There was something between them, all right, but as it stood, it only seemed like what was between them was clothes at best and barring that, only skin and he seemed to wanted to crawl under it. Okay, that was better, but it was hardly a thing she wanted to think too much on either. When she had first given in to the impulse, she had ended up in a bit of a tangle with Krose and her brain had not been sated as she thought but even more keen on desires. She had been glad that only Dinsch and Krose had been around those few days after to keep her head from getting too muddied.
Rienna’s thoughts now went to Verity, the new ‘other female.’ She wasn’t weak but her powers were limited and she was no warrior. She seemed to get something about Rienna that the men couldn’t seem to wrap their heads around—she didn’t always want to explain what was bugging her and Verity never asked. In some ways, she was like Pierait, an unknown in all of the mess created by machines and elemental magic, a reminder that there were more layers to all of this than just what they were up against with this army. Verity brought up a lot of old tales—that the old gods hadn’t just blessed humans with gifts, that they actually mated with humans and there were even a few of those children still hiding about and they had once been called Diviners. Rienna had wished that Pierait were still with them—he had been a wealth of information untapped and Rienna just didn’t know the right questions then. Not that Pierait was fond of questions, but he seemed more comfortable with questions concerning what he actually knew. He was probably the only person she met more confused about how to answer ‘how are you feeling?’ than she was—he was the only Soulless she knew, but apparently that was common among them.
Last night, Rienna had been haunted by their last meeting with Night. He had looked like a dried husk of the man they had first met. It also hurt her heart that they could not save him or Freesia; for Ashe, saving them at the horror of Harmonea’s massacre had been a great source of pride and insofar she hadn’t been able to bring herself to ask Ashe if it bothered him as much. It was a double-edged question though; even if it hadn’t been sitting ill with him, a mention of it might do just that. Neither her nor her companions were keen on talking about how they were handling all of this but they all found their own awkward ways to try to reach out to one another anyway.
Still, her dream kept haunting her today; she had seen time rewind, to a moment where the Cirque had needed to detour maybe and Night and Freesia never went, never met Ashe, and Night had pulled that ring off of his neck and deftly put it on Freesia’s as he smiled mischievously and she sputtered trying to find a reason to say no. He wore her down with smooth reasoning and once she was thoroughly softened, they would share their first kiss—the kind that stole sound and time and held them like thralls in a free fall.
Rienna knew that kind of kiss because she had experienced it with three people, if she were to be perfectly honest. She wanted to say it might have been the best with the man who left her a widow the day he took her to bride, but if she gave up the hierarchy in her head, the truth was none were less shattering than the others. The innocence of a first kiss with Melchior, a few times honey-smothered by her love for Belias, and her recent one with Ashe. Things they all had in common was that her stomach had been ricocheting bullets (to hell with butterflies), her toes had gone numb, and she had wanted them but never expected it to actually happen. Rienna knew that woman warrior wasn’t really a turn-on for most guys so she was always taken aback when it was. She was okay with that—she knew what she had been getting into.
It was what she would compare Night and Freesia’s first kiss to, but she wasn’t quite sure if that even cut it. Freesia had been used so badly that it had locked something shut inside of her. She couldn’t even imagine what it would have taken for her to offer that kind of trust in the form of what others would see as ‘just a kiss’. If anyone was able to break through though, Night would have been the one to finally do it.
Rienna realized, in thinking about all of this, she was doing the exact opposite of focusing on what needed to be done. Romantic fantasy, but not her own; one that was squeezing her heart like a vice and useless to her cause. She also realized that all of that recollection of kisses had left her toes numb and the mystery of why was solved—her bare toes were nearly curled under her foot on the stone of the battlements. Was she really curling her toes so tightly? It was no wonder she had trouble keeping her balance.
Her hair, whipping lightly at her neck and cheeks, was longer than she remembered, but then the last time she even really paid any attention to it was when Sea Star had held up that severed braid and Rienna had told her she wouldn’t need it any more. With one hand, she gripped the wall and the other grabbed a fistful of her chestnut hair absent-mindedly tickling her cheek with it as she frowned and tried to focus on something else.
“Someone’s thinking happy thoughts, at least,” Rienna heard and jumped at the sound, as if she were caught misbehaving. She turned to see Ashe leaning against the wall with that sinfully radiant smile playing at his mouth. Anger bubbled under her skin towards him for now making it impossible to actually think clearly.
“Not entirely, or I wouldn’t be ready to push you over the edge,” Rienna snapped, but it was idle in her voice and she didn’t quite feel like backing up the force of that threat.
“Anyways, it’s completely useless and I’m getting frustrated that I can’t focus on what’s ahead. I know there’s little we can actually do while the army mobilizes; Melchior keeps kicking me off of command duties and telling me to focus on reserving my strength. When I am idle though, it just makes it harder to focus and what I do think about isn’t helping anything!” she explained, her jaw clenched as she paced, more speaking aloud to herself than to Ashe since her vision was as unfocused as she claimed to be. She bit back the urge to ask him if he thought about them. She didn’t trust herself not to admit she was also forming sappy scenarios. Ugh, she just wanted a sword right now.
Ashe shrugged, his smile unchanging. “Yeah, I guess this is Melchior’s gig and his form of salvation for his crimes, so we’re all kind of restless. Wanna have our own little adventure?” Ashe said, his eyes twinkling as he rubbed his palms in anticipation.
Rienna had thought this was just an innuendo-laced proposition, although rubbing his hands together like that was pretty pervy, even for him. She narrowed her eyes at Ashe trying to discern the meaning. His eyes weren’t dancing with lust though; they were glowing with the actual promise of adventure. Rienna propped herself against the wall noncommittally and tilted her head with curiosity.
“What did you have in mind?” Rienna asked, taking the bait. “I knew you might be up for it!” Ashe gushed out, scooting along the wall until he was closer to her. He leaned in and his breat
h at her ear had sent luscious shivers along her spine but lust was furthest from her mind once he began stoking the fires of a true adventure with his whispered plans.
Rienna wasn’t sure what had possessed her to go along with Ashe; it was only the two of them, but he had confessed that the others had gone off to find other things to do as well when Melchior had pulled his ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ tirades and there was no one else left to ask. Dinsch and Krose, as comically awkward as they could be, were nearly inseparable from years of adventuring and they always balanced each other’s flaws so perfectly that they were nearly unstoppable together. They had been inspired by Finn and Verity’s departure over the south wall and that was all it took to send them off on their own. Verity and Finn, having not been a part of the group dynamic the others had built just yet at least had that in common. Ashe assured Rienna that Finn seemed the perfect gentleman as he honorably spoke of protecting Verity on their trip to a Reishefolk city to the south; both business and pleasure, he assured Ashe staunchly.
Knowing that Ashe was the one to know this, she wasn’t quite sure how to take it. At one point, the group was in her command, but with all that had happened, they seemed to defer to Melchior and then Ashe just as much. Rienna was glad that Melchior had taken a break from his whoring to put himself into his work but she wasn’t happy that she had been so unfocused that Ashe had seemed the better choice to keep informed. She didn’t like the feeling of inadequacy it caused, but supposed she was also grateful the group was independent enough to not rely on her for everything either. They never had an official leader to begin with, but with her having been so focused on revenge in the beginning, she hadn’t made room for anyone to discuss options.
Now, this ‘adventure’ Rienna had agreed to just seemed ludicrously dangerous, but then that was what got her blood pumping too. She wondered if looking for a hidden old magic was going to be such a good idea up against a mechanized army, but it seemed that it was better to have than to have not. Their growing army was not entirely without mechanized technology but they would hardly be up to par with Myceum on that front— playing rock-paper-scissors and choosing rock when you know your enemy is too is suicide unless you have the bigger rock. They sure as hell didn’t.
They had waited until nightfall to slip out of Mythec through the north gate; well, not exactly through, since that may have tipped off Melchior so Ashe had been ready for that by finding passages under Mythec to leave by. This was hardly easier since the passage was all but forgotten and the way out was wet and slippery with moss and the rock would sometimes crumble away. Rienna had cursed herself that twice she had lost her footing and had to grab onto Ashe but then had to enjoy it stoically when she had to keep him on his feet a few times as well. Okay, not exactly stoically but as they went further along, she had managed to keep her hysterical giggling low enough to avoid them echoing loudly in the massive chamber they were sneaking through. Ashe would shove her off balance a little to where she would have to grab onto him and his controlled laughter made it harder for her to contain her own. The stone down there was dark but rough for the most part and they hadn’t needed light; there was a type of blue-green algae in the cracks of stone that lit the whole of the cavern that same eerie hue.
Once they had spent an hour or so stumbling about to the exit they had ended up coming out of a concealed cave bordering the Eastern Cyryl and Rienna was agape at what she saw here. What they had seen of the desert so far was a rolling but smooth rippled surface but here, there were colossal craters dotting the place, perfectly globular in places and Rienna had been grabbing Ashe’s arm without noticing. It wasn’t hard to think of why Pierait would have wrapped around Mythec—he might not have been able to see it without Melchior anyway, but she also guessed he didn’t want to draw more attention passing through anywhere populated either. At least, this gave her some comfort that their friend could take care of himself.
“Do you think Pierait did this?” Rienna asked, and noticed Ashe was in a state of awe as well and just nodded. He shook the daze from his head and smiled lopsidedly.
“Yeah, this has him written all over it. At least we can be sure the desert’s no match for our boy in blue,” Ashe retorted with a fondness edging the humor in his words, voicing her own thoughts.
Rienna looked off towards the west and sent a plea to the old gods to guard their friend on his journey before she turned her focus back on hers.
What had intrigued her about where they were headed now was that somewhere in this seemingly blank expanse (now pitted with Pierait’s solution to quick-sands) was an enormous swirling pit of sand that they wanted to be pulled into. She was anxious and hesitant to do so if they could even find this oddity but apparently once they were pulled in, they would be in a pocket so massive that they would seem to be in a whole other world with a strange sandy sky. Ashe wouldn’t tell her everything at once, but then what would be the fun of that?
Once they came to the end of Pierait’s handiwork, Ashe grabbed Rienna’s wrist gently as a signal to stop and she watched him remove his light pack and pull out a lengthy and strong rope, tying it first to his waist and then to hers. He was being almost annoyingly gentle in his attempts to not touch her but the few brushes of his hands that got by tingled all the more in her head when they happened. Once he was done, she realized she was curling her damn toes again, but this time, her soft boots hid them. He grinned as he stepped back to view his handiwork. The knots he had made were not simple by any means. He explained that he tied them up to keep them from tripping on the slack but they were also made to allow the rope to lengthen without tugging on the other person’s waist, giving the other person time to anchor their weight and then tighten the rope. If one of them went into the sands, he told her to hold her breath, grab the rope, and stay calm. He also reminded her that if all else fails, she could use Sea Star’s air bubble and he could use Zephyra’s winds to bail them out, although he did remind Rienna that it might be difficult for him to draw Nettle and summon Zephyra with blood in that situation, so act as if that weren’t an option. Zephyra had warned of paralysis but not how long it would grip him. He wasn’t sure how his own mastery of wind would work either. He supposed he should count himself lucky that the elemental had bothered to warn him of that at all.
Rienna had opted for careful shuffling steps, like you do when you walk in the pitch black somewhere you have never been before and it didn’t take long for Ashe to notice it was a clever idea. The kicked sand would land differently on the liquid-like sands, making ripples like on a lake or moving the spots about like a blobby sort of pudding. They laughed at each other while they did the strange shuffle walk but it worked and by the time they noticed a sideways shuffle of sand like a slow river, they went quiet as their eyes realized that some distance away, the sand was moving in the opposite direction and their eyes came upon a center that the sands were draining into, like a sort of hourglass on no scale most people could even imagine.
Rienna stopped to watch the sands, unsure of what to do next. This was Ashe’s party and she didn’t want to crash it. It seemed minutes slipped by in silence and neither made any move so Rienna looked to where Ashe had been standing. He was gone.
Before she had time to panic, her rope had been slipping from its knot and with a tug she went sprawling into the whirlpool. She should have guessed that there was that one major flaw in the rope plan; Ashe’s body weight was quite a bit more than hers. She held her breath and her hands had fluttered up to the amulet, ready to summon up that damned bubble if air did not become available soon. Air seems a lot scarcer when you’re trying not to panic as well.
Rienna was gasping as soon as she realized the sands had become air again. She could feel the sands sticking to her moist skin and dared not open her eyes. She could feel Ashe’s familiar arms around her and she had to hold her breath again as she felt water crashing underneath her. She came up gasping, and opened her eyes to start splashing Ashe with the violence she want
ed to hit him with her fists. He laughed and backed away instinctively, although it was a lost cause trying to stay dry when you’re as dripping wet as the other. He undid the rope at his waist and then his eyes went to hers and lidded with open amusement as they settled on her breasts. She had forgotten how that light material was nearly transparent when wet and the cold water had given him a nice view of perky nipples to boot, only pronouncing it all the more. Her hands flew up to cover herself and she tried to narrow her eyes reproachfully.
Ashe kept his amused, lust-darkened eyes on hers and began to wind the rope over his arm, a smirk pulling at his lips. As the rope wound up, she saw that he wasn’t finished even when it had been pulled taut and as he wound it again, he lifted her out of the water to find her footing. She fumbled ineffectually at the knot, trying to free herself. He wound her closer still as she stubbornly covered her near-nudity with one arm until she stumbled closer, nearly standing nose to nose with him.
He held her gaze and the rope, placing a finger under her chin and craning his neck so that his cheek lightly touched hers and he could speak softly towards her ear.
“My kind of fishing,” Ashe purred thickly. His hands snaked around her waist and it was agonizing for Rienna to hold herself upright. He undid the rope from her quickly and stepped back a few steps, looking around thoroughly amused. “Take a look around; this place is incredible.”
Rienna’s pooling lusts emptied from her like a cold shower and she bent to find a soft but solid bit of fruit to lob at his head. He ducked as it flew true for his head but he hadn’t counted on her charging behind it and knocking him to the sandy ground.
She towered over him, still covering herself and he discovered that the stormy gray lust in her eyes before was no match for the near black of her sudden anger. He should have known not to toy with her.
The Truth about Heroes: Complete Trilogy (Heroes Trilogy) Page 30