Lost Moon

by Dana Davis

  Jakon’s eyes lit up and he grinned. “Oh. I understand, Noble. Perhaps you should get back to your room.”

  “Well,” she said, growing a bit braver now. “That is just the thing. I want to be here. With you.”

  He cocked his head and she craned hers up to look into his golden eyes. “Are you certain, Noble? Perhaps your sisters are influencing you more than you realize.”

  What a dear man! No wonder Sorinieve became his lover. She searched her feelings, wrenching them from her sisters’ passionate ones, and realized that she truly did want Jakon this way. This was not the first time she had thought about him. “I want my first time to be with you.” No need for protection, either, as Jakon’s people were sterile now. He was of the last generation. She felt sad about that, but no power, magic or otherwise, could change it. His people had long-ago accepted their fate.

  Jakon nodded and locked his door. Then he led her to his bed and placed gentle hands on her shoulders as they stood facing each other. “Are you still certain, Noble? I do not want you to regret anything.”

  Larisa answered him with a tug of her robe’s belt. He slipped it from her shoulders then leaned down, placed warm hands on her neck, and kissed her. Passion all her own mingled with her sisters’ and she shivered as he undressed her. She knew the workings of sex, but the reality seemed quite different and she let Jakon lead. Once he had her on the bed, he pressed his naked body close and her desire mounted.

  She opened her legs to accommodate his caressing hands and probing fingers. He was gentle and slow, taking care to give her pleasure, and she loved him for that. His experienced touch and her sisters’ added passion offset the pain she felt when he entered her. He went slowly and she did not think any other man would have been so patient.

  His weight pressed down on her as he pushed farther and she forced herself to relax into the rhythm the Moirai had gifted each man and woman during this intimate time. Soon the pain receded and Larisa began to feel more pleasure as Jakon thrust into her. She rode the moment, taking in his scent and caressing his muscles as he moved inside her. Soon everything in her being wanted release and she gave herself to the moment. Nothing mattered more than being with him right now, right here.

  He moaned as he spent himself, and she felt her sisters’ climactic moments, one after the other, which triggered her own. Every fiber in her seemed to vibrate with joy and release and she cried out, unable to hold back as wave after wave of intense pleasure rocked her body. She never realized it would be like this. Much to her disappointment, the intensity began to cool, until the final wave spent itself and she lay breathless on a moist blanket.

  Jakon rolled to one side, held her close, and caressed her back in long slow strokes as she relished the blissful calm that ran through her. “Are you all right, Noble?”

  “Yes, thank you, Jakon.” She snuggled against his broad, hairless chest.

  “No. Thank you, Second. You entrusted me with this important passage into womanhood. I am truly honored.”

  They stayed that way for some time before Larisa decided she should get dressed and get to her own apartment across the hall. Jakon kissed her gently on the cheek then the lips and opened the door for her.

  She felt light, happy, sated. She might be sore in the morning but she did not care. Her sisters appeared in the hallway just as she reached for her doorknob.

  “Well, well, well,” Kepriah said. Larisa caught the glint in those eyes even in the dim light of the hall lanterns.

  Patrice sniffed and wiped her eyes in an overblown gesture. “Our little girl has grown up.”

  “About time.”

  “Oh, hush. Both of you.” Despite being a grown woman of twenty-five years, Larisa’s face grew hot.

  Her sisters flanked her and ushered her inside her room. “Get some sleep, sister,” Kepriah ordered with a wink. “I’m certain you will have little trouble now.”

  Despite her annoyance, Larisa grinned. “Yes, Kepriah.” With that, her door shut and she heard laughter and footfalls as they retreated to their respective rooms. At least they had the decency not to ask questions. A great yawn escaped and she plunged into bed, smiling until she fell asleep.

  ****

  Donigere looked much like it had before the flood, green and full of life. Her parents’ house stood nearby with a few weathered spots along the porch. She half-expected her mother and father to step from the front door, but somewhere in her mind, she realized they were dead. Grief started to build as she noticed a figure in the roadway. One of her sisters, most likely. She headed that direction.

  As she grew close, Larisa saw that the figure was transparent and wavered between human form and undulating air. Not one of her sisters. She stopped a few feet from the odd woman. Dark skin appeared, though translucent, and a mouth moved as though trying to tell her something. Golden eyes peered at her. Honor reached for Larisa, but a darkened archway opened just behind the woman and sucked her through it.

  Larisa bolted upright in bed, shaken and sweaty, her sisters knocking at her door.

  Chapter 36

  She had made contact at last! So, it can be done. That thought quelled some of Honor’s frustration at being yanked back to the Hollow. Actually, she never left. What Larisa had seen was just a ghost of her former self, but she had managed to pierce the girl’s dreams. It was a start. It drained her terribly, even with the power she managed to steal from a few weak souls who had touched magic in life. The new ones were always weak, at least from what she had seen since coming here. Luckily, she got to them before the Guardian ushered them into Soul River. Magic still worked for her, though very limited. For now, anyway. But if she did not succeed any faster than tonight, she would miss the hoisting. And those girls, smart as they were, were too inexperienced to do it alone. They would mess the whole thing up.

  She had received snippets of Larisa’s thoughts while in that previous state. They do not even know how to do it. Idiot girls. She beat back the little voice that reminded her she did not know the hoisting ritual either. I have a better chance of figuring it out than those three. Perhaps the Moirai thought Honor would be of more use to them from the Hollow. As a dead soul, especially one who had been the famed Nyanan in life, she could contact Larisa any time the girl slept, as long as she knew where to look. The archways here allowed her to see into the living world. If I can exchange places with her soul, I will have her magic and truly be one of the Trine. Maybe that was the Moirai’s plan for me all along.

  The Guardian stood a few feet away and she eyed him. He was directing yet another spirit into Soul River. Old idiot. He had told her contacting the living could not be done. Probably a lie to get me into that disgusting river of his and have me reborn as a helpless infant, unable to do anything. Not something Honor looked forward to anytime soon. She knew she would be reborn eventually, since every desert dweller learned that in childhood, but she would decide when. I am not finished. I will be at that hoisting and Larisa is my way out. That lifted her spirits, so to speak, and she chuckled to herself.

  The Guardian’s red eyes valuated her and she flicked a hand at him. “Go on, you old fool. I am not setting foot in that river.” Instead of trying to argue with her as he usually did, he simply turned and skulked away. About time.

  Honor paced, since there was nothing more she could do at the moment. She could not contact the other Trine girls because the scepter and ring did not respond to her magic. In fact, the only way she would ever make contact with Kepriah or Patrice again was if one of them stumbled into the Hollow. Even then, they might not notice her. The talisman’s powers connected Larisa to the Hollow, and Honor counted on the blonde girl to return.

  With nothing to do for now but wait, she perched on a nearby rock and wrapped arms about her knees. Funny how she still felt as though she had a body, still had the same thoughts as when she was flesh and bone and blood. Hunger, thirst, and other bodily desires did not plague her here, though, which made her grateful. Her thoughts turned
to Jakon and the rest of her family. She would miss them. Even as much as Jakon irritated her, he was a good boy. A good man. Honorable. A fine warrior. She had never told him that.

  Why did I not tell him? She groaned and rested her chin on her bent knees. If only she had her life to do over. The Guardian came drifting by and gave her a knowing glance. “What are you looking at, you old fool?”

  “You know too much,” he said in his cryptic and irritating fashion. “The river beckons.”

  “Perhaps. But I am not listening.”

  He bowed his head to her, which she thought odd, then went about his business again. Her thoughts returned to Jakon and how angry she had been with his Trine protector status. Why had she been so angry? The Moirai had a design on the world. Jakon and the rest were mere pawns in some great plan they could not fully comprehend.

  And what of the ancestors? Are they disappointed in me? The Moirai gave her great powers, but instead of being happy, she had cursed them and longed for more. What in Hollow am I doing sulking like a spoiled child? Regrets will not do me any good now. I will tell Jakon how proud I am of him once I get control of Larisa’s body.

  She stood and straightened her dress, the one she was wearing when Jakon split open her throat and her life drained away. Though she still appeared as an old woman, there were no stains on her dress now, and it looked as new as it had the day the village women made it. She was no longer angry with Jakon. She would have done the same in his place.

  I waited patiently for the Trine to come together. I gave advice to Sorinieve, Jakon, and others when they needed it. I learned the ancient books faster than any in my village. I kept my powers as Nyanan secret and used them only when necessary, just as it should be. So, why am I lamenting? She studied the Guardian again. The old idiot knows something.

  She moved her eyes to the dirty river and watched the souls float by, some peaceful, others tortured and trying to escape only to burst upon rising. “Why do they do that?”

  The Guardian eyed her. “Birth is painful.”

  She waited for more but he did not divulge, and for a brief second, she had the urge to touch the water. She fought through the feeling and realization hit her like a monsoon rain. So, that’s how it is. Mothers and babes have no control over birth. Some herbs can stall it for a time and even ease the pain, but eventually the babe comes out. It must. So even with the power I manage to steal here, I will go into the river whether I want to or not. Tears formed in her eyes and she looked up at the Guardian, who now stood a few feet from her. “How long do I have?”

  Without answering, he turned and trudged across the river, where Honor dared not follow. I must hurry to complete my task. I will be part of the hoisting. I did not study all these years to miss it or have those idiot girls mess it up. Her stubbornness and determination came back to her and she begged the Moirai for Larisa’s quick return to slumber.

  ****

  “Larisa!” Patrice stormed into her sister’s room through their adjoining door, ready to use an air whip on the intruder, but she didn’t see any. “You all right?”

  Larisa sat on her bed, staring at the dwindling fire. “No,” came a weak reply.

  Kepriah bolted in through the adjoining door. The woman had obviously passed through Patrice’s room to get here instead of taking the hallway.

  Patrice put her hands up just as Kepriah aimed the scepter at her. “No! It’s me, Kepriah.”

  “What happened?” her warrior sister demanded as she stalked the darkened room. When Larisa didn’t answer, the warrior woman began checking every conceivable hiding place. Patrice sat on Larisa’s bed and stroked her trembling sister’s hair. Larisa’s fear pounded against her senses. The healer looked traumatized, as though she had witnessed something horrible, and Patrice’s thoughts went back to her own attack in this very house. With effort, she pushed away those thoughts, knowing her emotions would not help her sister.

  Kepriah leaned the scepter against a bedpost then sat on the mattress. “The room is clear. What happened?”

  Larisa shook her head. “I do not believe it, but it is true. I just do not know how.”

  Patrice rubbed her blonde sister’s back. “What? Tell us.”

  Fearful blue eyes darted between Patrice and Kepriah. “Honor was in my dream.”

  Kepriah grunted. “Jabber shit on a hot day, Larisa. You scared us to death over a bloody dream?”

  “No. I mean, yes, I was dreaming. But Honor was real.”

  “She’s dead, Larisa,” Patrice reminded in a gentle tone. Maybe Larisa wasn’t as strong as she seemed. Maybe she’s losing it.

  “I know she is dead, Patrice. I am not daft. But she was here, in my dreams with me.”

  Kepriah shifted her weight and caused the bed to jiggle. “Are you certain it was not just a dream?” Worry emanated from her now.

  “Of course it was a dream,” Patrice said. How could it not be? The dead couldn’t come back to haunt the living. That was just a myth.

  Larisa pulled the covers around her. “She somehow got into my dreams. At first, I thought it was one of you. She was translucent, a quiver of air, but when she took shape, it was definitely Honor.” Larisa shivered and closed her eyes.

  Patrice took the robe Kepriah held out to her and wrapped around her middle sister’s shoulders. “But how? Are you sure? I mean, I’ve had dreams that seemed very real, even after I woke up.”

  Larisa offered a glare in response. “I know a dream from reality, Patrice. I am not some stupid child.”

  Don’t take the bait and start a fight with her. Whatever happened, she thinks it’s real. “I’m not saying you’re stupid. It’s just—”

  “What? That she is dead. In case you have not noticed, we are not exactly normal, everyday women.” Larisa lifted the talisman that permanently hung around her neck. “And this is connected to the Hollow. The Hollow of the Dead.”

  “I will get Jakon,” Kepriah announced as she stood from the bed and took up her scepter. “Maybe he can explain this.”

  Patrice had doubts. Despite what Jakon had done to Honor, he loved his grandmother. “Are you sure? He’s still mourning her.”

  “He needs to know.” Kepriah strode to the door then stopped and pointed a finger. “You two stay right here.” With that, she left.

  Larisa’s frustration still thumped against Patrice’s senses and she needed to make things right. “I’m sorry, Larisa. I wasn’t trying to insult you.”

  “I know.” Her sister’s gaze softened. “I did not mean to snap, but she really gave me a fright. I was so certain we had defeated her.”

  “We did. You can’t exactly get more defeated than dead.” Patrice relaxed when her sister chuckled. “If it was really her spirit, why come to you? She seemed dead set on getting Kepriah’s powers when she was alive. No put intended.”

  Larisa smiled and shrugged. “Probably has to do with my talisman.”

  Patrice still didn’t understand everything about these Faytools and suspected it would take years to learn, maybe even decades. A daunting thought.

  Kepriah led Jakon into the room and he came directly to the bedside. “You all right, Second Noble?”

  “Yes, Jakon. A bit shaken, that’s all.”

  “Like hell,” Kepriah had one hand on her scepter and the other flew to her hip. “Tell him what you told us.”

  After Larisa repeated her story, the man sat silently for a few minutes. “Jakon?” Larisa said, breaking the quiet. “My talisman is linked to the Hollow. We found that out when she took Kepriah there. I do not know how but I think that’s how she contacted me.”

  Those yellow eyes looked guarded now. “Third Noble managed to get there, too.”

  Patrice shook her head. “Not by myself. I can’t do it unless Larisa’s there first.”

  Kepriah gave her a questioning gaze. “How do you know that?”

  “When we searched for Nyanan, Larisa always got to the Hollow first.” She hadn’t thought about that too much be
fore now. “We would lie near each other and concentrate on the Hollow. Remember? Sometimes I could do it quickly, but every time I arrived, Larisa was already there. I think she’s the key.”

  “You could be right,” Jakon said. “First? Have you ever gone to the Hollow alone?”

  Kepriah’s eyes narrowed in thought. “No. Except when Nyanan dragged me there.” Her face soured and anger pricked Patrice’s skin.

  “She has not passed through Soul River, yet,” Larisa uttered. “She is trying to finish what she started here, trying to get our powers.”

  That sounded stupid to Patrice’s ears and the logical side of her rebelled at the thought. True to her quirky nature, she chuckled with the uncomfortable thought that not even death could stop that woman. “Sorry.” But her sisters were used to her nervous habit by now so they said nothing. “Is that even possible? I mean, she is dead.” But this was no ordinary world. And I’ve lived anything but an ordinary life the past few months.

  When she and her sisters turned eyes on Jakon, he shrugged. “I am afraid I do not have the answers. You should ask the Guardian.”

  Great. “When we’re done with this hoisting thing, I’m going to need a serious vacation. You know, Earth is a fabulous recreation spot.” She chuckled again and got smiles from her sisters, but the mood quickly turned somber again.

  Kepriah straightened in the manner she took whenever she was about to give an order. “The sooner we can break this connection with Honor, the better. I say we try tonight. You up for it, Larisa?”

  “Yes. I would feel better knowing the three of us were together. I have no idea just how strong she is, but she did not look as though she went back to the Hollow willingly.”

  “If she is weak, this is the time to act.” Kepriah, scepter in hand, stretched out next to Larisa. She motioned Patrice to join them.

  Once the three were comfortable, Jakon stood guard at the foot of the bed. “If I notice anything unusual, I will wake you.”