* * *
Aleria had little to say during breakfast, and Shen seemed to be thinking as well. However, once they got moving the mood lightened, and soon they were walking down the trail, making up alternate lines to “His Hand Began Upon Her Knee.” It was a song she had sung with great enthusiasm with the other girls, but as the story developed she remembered where the last two verses went. Shen seemed to realize it as well, and both their voices faded. There was a moment of embarrassed silence.
“Not an appropriate song for mixed company, I suppose.”
“No.” They both walked along, thinking.
Shen stopped so suddenly that Aleria, her mind on other things, almost ran into him.
“What?”
“Look!”
The trail was straight for some distance in front of them, and a bear had appeared, ambling along in their direction.
“The wind’s the wrong way. He can’t smell us.”
“Won’t he see us?”
“His eyes aren’t that good. If he doesn’t know we’re here before he gets too close, he might decide it’s safer to attack than to turn his back and run. Then we’re in trouble.”
“What do we do?”
He raised his voice. “We stop whispering, is what we do. We make lots of noise, so that he can hear us.”
She raised her voice as well. “We make lots of noise, do we?”
They continued to call out to each other. The bear stopped, looking puzzled. It was not a large bear, as far as she could tell, black in colour, and about as high as her waist at the shoulder. Not too big, but big enough to be very frightening. It began to cast its head from side to side, sniffing and staring.
“He still can’t smell us. What if he keeps coming?”
“Get off the trail. If he wants it, he can have it. Get up on that log over there and bash your stick against it. I’ll go over here.
“No! You come with me, on this side.”
“No, we get apart. That way the bear won’t want to attack either of us, because he’ll have to turn his back on the other one. If he does attack me, you rush in, screaming, to attract his attention. When he comes for you, I’ll do the same.”
“Will that work?”
He frowned across at her. “We could always just run. Slowest one gets to be lunch.”
They continued to shout and bang their sticks. The bear stood on its hind legs and cast around some more. Then it moved forward, weaving from side to side, nose searching to the wind.
Suddenly its head came up. It stood again, weak eyes peering. It made a “whoof” sound, and trotted back a few paces. It “whoofed” again and cut to the side of the trail. Then it made up its mind and turned, scuttling away to the east. They watch it go until it was lost in the trees.
“Is it safe to go on?”
“I think so. Once he smelled us properly he left. That’s a good sign. Let’s go. Don’t run, though.”
“I won’t.”
“Keep talking.”
“Right. What do I say?”
“I don’t know. Sing a song.”
“I don’t feel so cheerful at the moment.”
“Neither do I.”
They marched along for a while, shouting nonsense, all their senses straining towards the trail behind them.
All of sudden she couldn’t go on any farther. Her knees began to shake, and her pack felt like it was full of lead.
“Aleria, come on, keep walking!” He turned. “Hey, you don’t look so good. Here, take your pack off.” He slipped out of his own straps to help her.
“I’m all right. Just a bit shaky.”
His arms went around her.
“I’m not going to fall down.”
“Not if I can help it.”
She felt the strength in his arms, and the need to hold someone. She put her arms around him, and then they were kissing. She felt a fire starting to burn in her, and held him even closer. After a long, fierce moment, he pulled back, and looked straight into her eyes. She tilted her head up, but he disentangled one arm, put a finger to her lips.
“I don’t want to be taking advantage.”
For a moment, she felt like bursting into tears; she didn’t know why. Instead, she laid her head on his shoulder. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s a common reaction after danger, I’ve heard.”
“Well, I suppose that’s all right then.” She kissed him again, more carefully. “That’s to say thanks for getting me through.”
“A pleasure, I’m sure.” He looked back along the path. “Do you know how difficult it was to train that bear to walk down the trail like that, at exactly the right time?”
She slapped his chest with the back of her hand, laughing. “I don’t think I want the chance to find out. Let’s get out of this place.”
They walked on down the trail, Shen leading, and Aleria watching the muscles of his shoulders roll with the straps of his pack.
“It’s getting late, isn’t it?”
“If I remember this right, we’re almost to the main road. It would be nice to camp where there’s water.” As they walked on, she was thinking what could happen once they camped.
On down the hill the forest became thicker, the trees taller. Birch and aspen began to fill in between the evergreens, and their way became more shaded.
Soon they reached the main road and turned east. On the wider path, they could walk side-by-side. It seemed natural to reach out and take his hand.
“Here’s a stream.”
He nodded. “We can camp anywhere around here.”
She dropped her pack and raised her arms, glad to be free of the weight. “I feel like I’m floating.” Arms outstretched, she ‘flew’ around in a circle. As she came past, he grabbed her by the waist, and she put her arms around his neck, kissing him again.
The fire started once more, and she pushed against him, her mouth pressed against his. After a long kiss, she threw her head back, and pulled against his restraining arms, looking into his eyes. Very gently, she disengaged his arms. Then, with a smooth motion, she pulled her blouse off over her head and stood in front of him, her arms raised, her bare torso arched back.
It seemed a long time that she stood there, aware of her complete vulnerability. She knew her breasts were good, rather large and firm, although one was slightly higher than the other. What if he didn’t like large breasts? Her hands fell to the top of her head.
Then she could stand the tension no longer. “If you don’t do something soon, this is going to become very embarrassing.”
His eyes flew upward to her face. “Oh, Aleria, you are…you are…”
“I know. Beautiful. Kiss me, dammit!”
A gush of molten fire spread through her lower body as he locked his hands behind her back and pulled her forward, to touch her breasts with his lips. It tickled at first, but then his mouth moved more firmly, and she twined her fingers in his hair to guide him.
They sank to the ground together, their hands moving over each other’s bodies. Everything was in a whirl, and she was melting in to a frenzy of passion when she realized that he had slowed, even stopped. She opened her eyes, concern bringing her back to reality.
“What’s wrong?”
He smiled. “Nothing. But don’t you think we should put up the tent?”
“Why? What do you want the tent for?”
“I sort of though it would be nice if we could take a few more clothes off, and there seem to be mosquitoes around here.”
She smiled and laid one hand on his chest, absently rubbing an itchy spot on her neck with the other. “I suppose you’re right. Let’s set up the tent.”
She started to get up, then a thought struck her. “You haven’t changed your mind, have you, and are going to use this as an excuse to stop?”
He smoothed one hand across and under her breast, lifting it and pulling her forward. He kissed her very lightly on the lips, then along the line of her jaw, up to nibble on her ear lobe. “Wh
at do you think?”
Grinning, she slapped his hand away. “You’re worse than the mosquitoes. Where are we going to put up the tent?”
He was busy with his pack. “There’s a nice clear spot just over there, and there’s water right here.”
A sudden chill of caution struck through her mood. “I don’t know. It’s awfully close to the road. Hadn’t we better try to get hidden, even a bit?”
They looked around the clearing. Undergrowth was heavy and filled the spaces between the trunks of the young trees, where limbs grew low and twined together.
He grinned. “I don’t think you want to push through that stuff too far, especially dressed like you are.”
His smile was slightly crooked, in an endearing sort of way. “Look. There’s a level spot just behind that big tree. It’s not obvious from the road. Once it gets dark, someone could walk right by and not notice us. Let’s get this tent organized.”
It took quite a while to get the tent set up, since he kept insisting on helping her with everything. Close enough that his hands kept straying to other matters and he had to be chastised frequently, made to pay with contrite kisses wherever she demanded. In the end, it was the mosquitoes that drove them to hurry, and soon their bedrolls were spread. They clambered in, tied the flaps, and sat, quite still, looking at each other in the light of a small candle.
She reached out to undo his shirt, and he shrugged it off. Soon the rest of their clothes followed, and they stretched out naked together. She moved closer to him, then raised her head to look down into his face.
“Shen, can I tell you something?”
His brow wrinkled at her serious tone, but he smiled softly. “Of course.”
“I…I haven’t done this before.”
He nodded. “I see. Do you still want to?” He raised himself up on one elbow to look across at her in the dimness. “Because you don’t have to, you know. I mean, it won’t be great, you understand, but you don’t have to. I can… well, I’ll survive, I guess.”
Touched by his concern, she pushed him back down and laid her head on his chest. “Of course I still want to. It’s just that I haven’t ever tried it before, and I though maybe you could…well, I don’t know. That’s the problem. I don’t know what you can do.”
Again she raised her head to look at him. “Have you ever? I mean, I can ask that, can’t I? Have you?”
His head moved back and forth. “Well, yes and no.”
“What?” She put both hands against his chest, raised herself up to look down on him. “I didn’t think there was any doubt about that sort of thing. Have you or haven’t you?”
He grinned, and reached out to lift her breast with his hand. “You have beautiful breasts, you know.”
“Answer the question. Yes or no?”
“Well, the answer is yes, a few times. But never with someone who has never tried before, no. Yes and no.”
She raised her nose. “You play with me, my good fellow,” she twitched her shoulder, removing her breast from his hand, “in more ways than one. Demonstrate your vaunted experience!”
She lowered herself upon him, and soon all thought was lost in a whirl of fire.
Much later, they lay nested together, his drowsy hand stroking her stomach, the tip of his tongue tracing the line of her ear. It was a perfect moment, just as she had always dreamed. She reached up and smoothed his hair, ran her hand down his cheek. He kissed her fingers, and her hand dropped. He reached over and snuffed out the candle.
Then the great, silent stillness of the forest descended upon them, and they slept.
15. Wake Up!
She was startled out of her dreams by a sudden stiffening of his body, his hand grasping her arm.
“What?” She struggled to move, but he clamped her other arm.
“Listen!”
She was frightened by his intensity. After a long pause, she heard it, too. The mutter of voices borne on the breeze. Then it was gone. They waited a moment longer, then the noise came again, and the click of metal on metal.
“Men. Coming.”
His head, silhouette against the light canvas, nodded. “Any group of men travelling at this time of night, you don’t want to be seen by.”
“I’ve got to hide.” She started grabbing her things in the dark, stuffing them into her pack. “Help me.”
He unlaced the tent flap, and she slid out.
“You don’t have your clothes on.”
She knew her grin was unseen in the dark. “I’ll be back when they’ve gone. Then we’ll see if I need my clothes.” She jammed her feet into her boots.
She stood upright in the bright moonlight, a twinge of fear going through her as she regarded the impenetrable darkness under the trees, remembering the bear.
Then a louder voice called something, and she could hear the thud of feet, many feet, on the hard ground of the road. She slid into the forest as quickly as possible, glad of her boots, trying to ignore the branches scoring her naked skin. She blundered along for a few moments then stopped to catch her breath, listening.
The voices were louder, but the marching had stopped, and she realized the men had reached the stream. To her dismay, she heard orders being called out, and then a light sprang up. They were making camp! If someone came collecting firewood…
She started to move again, slowly this time, circling away from the camp towards the road further along. It would do no good to get lost in this forest at night. When she felt she was a safe distance, she fumbled in her bundle for something to wear, cursing to herself as the tangled clothing and bedding refused to cooperate. Hopefully she wasn’t leaving anything important on the forest floor in the dark.
Dressed, she stumbled on, stopping frequently to listen to the sounds of the camp. Soon they faded behind her and she cut more to the left, angling for the road. She had been forcing her way through the clinging undergrowth for what seemed hours and she was still in the forest. She should have been at the road long ago. She stopped to think. If she was lost she should bundle herself up in her blanket and wait for dawn. That would be better than blundering around in the dark, maybe getting more disoriented or hurting herself. Worse still, she might be heard by one of the men. She listened again. Louder voices arose behind her and she realized that she had got her directions switched and was walking directly away from the camp again. Turning left, she started out once more.
Then her reaching hand felt an opening and she stepped out onto the road. Realizing her mistake, she leaned back into the bushes and froze, but no sound disturbed the night. She stood a moment to consider. What should she do now? There was enough moonlight that she could travel slowly. She would be better not to be seen by those men. But what of Shen? Surely they would find him. What would they do to him?
Another thought struck her. What if they were friends, people he knew, and she spent the night crawling around in the forest for nothing? Was it worth the risk to go back and find out? She though longingly of Shen’s smooth body against hers, his lips soft on her skin. It was probably stupid, but she had to know.
Stashing her pack behind the white trunk of a crooked paper birch she was sure she would recognize again, she crept back up the road. She tried to keep out of the direct light of the moon, but the shadows were so dark she couldn’t see where to put her feet. She had gone farther than she thought, and with her slow pace it took her a long while to approach the camp. The voices continued to sound loud and free, with the occasional deep laugh ringing out. No alarm had been raised.
Wary of a sentry, she stopped when she could see the fire, a large blaze that got in her eyes and made it difficult to distinguish anything in the darkness in front of her. She waited, shielding her eyes from the light, and soon she was rewarded by movement. A man stumbled down the trail towards her, calling another man’s name. Closer to her than she would have liked, a figure rose from a log at the trail’s edge.
“Right here, you fool. What have ya bin doin’? Starin’ inta
th’ fire?”
The new sentry muttered something and the other man laughed. “Well, thanks for comin’. I was thinkin’ maybe ya fergot it was yer turn, and me so hungry an’ all. If it wasn’t for I knew Melask would skin me alive for leavin’ my post, I woulda come in ta see what was happenin’.
“Nothin’ happenin’ except that kid.”
“What kid?”
“There was a kid camped behind a tree, right by the crick.”
“What’d they do to him?”
The shoulders of the man on the road gave a hunching motion. “Nothin’, I guess. He’s pretty harmless: some kind o’ courier. Melask checked his stuff over and he ain’t carryin’ anythin’ of value. Whataya think we oughta’ do to him?
The other man stepped onto the road. “Prob’ly keep him with us in the mornin’ just to make sure he don’t go tellin’ no tales. Once we get to Izeu it won’t matter ‘n’ he can go his way.”
“Just let him go?”
“Listen, you ape. We may not be the King’s Guard, but we ain’t the kind of guys go around knockin’ off innocent people just for fun. We gotta make a livin’ in this area. Some merchant’s messenger goes missin’, there’s a passle o’ soljers beatin’ the bushes for days. They find out we did him, nobody’ll hire us.”
“I thought we was hirin’ out to that Slathe for his rebellion.”
“Hah! Don’t never count on revolutions to make your livin’. Half the time they lose and then you never get paid. The other half they win and then they want to get ridda you ‘cause you’re a danger to ‘em.” He slapped his companion on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. When there’s someone needs messin’ up, I’ll call on you first. Now I’m gonna stop jawin’ here, and put my mouth to work on summa that shoe leather the cook calls steak. You keep watch out here for a while. I’ll make sure someone remembers to come after you.” His feet crunched gravel as he turned. “And don’t look back at the fire.” With a guffaw, the larger man strolled towards camp, and the new sentry settled himself on the log.
Aleria took advantage of their noise to cover her own departure and stole back down the road. Well, that was that. Shen was in no danger that she could see, and there was no use her trying to make contact while he was travelling with his captors. Her best chance was to get some distance away from them then hide out, sleep, and let them go by in the morning.
As she picked up her pack her water bottle sloshed and she realized that she had not eaten that evening. Remembering why brought a smile to her lips and her whole body tingled.
Chewing on the piece of bread, she squared her shoulders and leaned into the pack straps. This was only a setback. She would be seeing Shen again. That was certain.
She stumbled on until she was so tired she couldn’t walk farther. Finding an animal trail that showed faint grey in the moonlight, she followed it until it turned and disappeared in the darkness. A large spruce tree stood among a scattering of young aspens, its shadow a pool of invisibility against the white trunks. Hoping it would be as good a shelter from prying eyes come daylight, she crawled under the long, drooping branches, wrapped herself in her blanket, dropped her head on her bundle and slipped into a restless slumber. With the first greying of the sky she awoke and looked around. She was well hidden from the road, she was sure.
She waited, slept again, waited again. The men did not come. Did she sleep through their passing? She rolled up her belongings and crept back to the road. Surely she could recognize the footprints of that many men. The track looked unused.
Shouldering her pack, she set out. Either they were sleeping late or they had taken some other path that she had missed in the dark. She knew where Shen was going. She would find him.
As she walked, she began to remember the conversation she had overheard the night before. Mercenaries, hiring out to someone called Slathe for a rebellion. As she thought about it, it sounded serious. She wondered what she should do. At least she should tell someone. Maybe the authorities in Izeu.
But would they believe her? Well, she could always pull rank on them, forget her little game, tell them who she was. With renewed vigour she tramped on, her eyes scanning the forest on either side for any sign of trouble.
As she walked, she began to think about her situation. Her little game suddenly wasn’t a game any more. She was alone. She knew no one in this area of the realm. Her father’s teamsters came this way, but not on a schedule, and he had no agents here. If this were a revolution, she would be terribly vulnerable, having no safe place to stay and no one to identify her. Fear began to creep its fingers through her mind.
Out of Mischief: World of Change Book 1 Page 5