They returned to the cozy bedroom and Mariah locked away the dark shrine behind them. "Bryn, I am not sure if you are ready to know this, but you really deserve to know more about me." Mariah waved her hand in front of Bryn's eyes and a rush of memories returned to her. She now knew of her dark past, the pain and suffering she had once caused to so many people. It took her some time to sort out all of the memories, but when she had, a few tears ran down her face, and for the first time she looked at Mariah with utter terror in her eyes. Mariah sighed heavily. "Now perhaps you can understand why I've been so cold. If they ever knew I had such love for any person, they would destroy her to get to me… again." Mariah got up to leave the room and, for the first time in as long as she could remember, a tear touched her cheek.
Bryn's eyes followed Mariah as she slowly walked into the living room. Bryn was frozen in place, leaning against the bedroom wall. The memories were still confusing and hard to make sense of, but she had managed to get the basics down. Mariah had once been evil, truly evil. But among those memories, she had also been able to feel some of what Mariah felt. Mariah took no pleasure in the slaughter she had taken part of. There were thousands that she had murdered, but she hadn't enjoyed any of it. She saw Mariah go to the window. Mariah's back was still toward her as she gazed out, and Mariah's shoulders were slightly slumped. Even now, with everything she knew, there was still one fact that was stronger than all the others; she loved Mariah. Admitting it wasn't as hard as she might have thought.
Bryn walked toward Mariah cautiously, not because she was afraid, but because she didn't want to startle her. She wrapped tentative arms around her waist and rested her cheek against her shoulder. Mariah was warm under her fingertips, and she lifted her shirt up slightly, just enough to slide her hands under it. They stood like that for a long while, both of them unwilling to move.
"Mariah," she softly said finally. "Please don't worry about losing me. I will never leave you."
Her voice had more confidence behind it than she would have thought possible. Pressing herself tightly against her back, she moved her hands up Mariah's stomach. She unfurled her wings and enveloped them around Mariah's body, crossing them over her broad chest. "I love you, Mariah Sawyer," she murmured against her ear.
"Bryn, there has been nothing and no one I have loved as much as you. I have never felt such peace in my entire life, but I always fear that the peace cannot last forever. This is, of course, why I always feared becoming close to you. You too have you own path to walk. You must someday rejoin your kin and learn those things that I cannot teach you. But we do have time. For now, there is no evil in the world. All I see today is you. Today, all I want to do is to be wrapped in your silken embrace and let the sun and moon pass by above us."
Mariah took Bryn into her arms and kissed her soft lips deeply, her hands glided over the silky feathers that adorned her wings. Mariah loved Bryn with all her heart, and that love was all the existed today.
Chapter Twelve
Bryn gazed down at Mariah, her eyes still half closed from sleep. The sun was just beginning to raise, its iridescent rays gently illuminating her features. "Good morning, darling," she softly said to Mariah as she brushed the blonde hair off her forehead. Mariah groaned in her sleep, slowly coming awake. They had spent the night together, tightly wrapped in each other's arms. Gentle aromas drifted to her from the open window. She could distinguish a few of the herbs. There were flowers too, all of them sweet and fragrant. Their scents covered her in a delicate blanket. Bryn curled against Mariah as the sun rose higher. Her fingers wound into her short hair and she breathed her scent in deeply. It was wonderful to be in her arms, but she had things that she needed to do, and Mariah was still asleep.
Hurriedly she bathed and dressed, choosing a short white silk dress to wear for the day. She found a ribbon in the dresser and quickly wrapped it in her hair, pulling it up off her neck. It was already becoming warm outside, and she had no intention of staying inside the cabin today. She grabbed a small bag from the kitchen before heading out the door.
The cool air whirled around her legs as she walked through the fields. Bryn kept to the outside edges of the field, away from the tall grasses. There was seclusion in their height, but she could also easily get lost among them. It was much easier for her to walk along the fringes where the lush blanket of plants rarely came up past her ankles. Flowers dotted her path as she walked. Behind her, the cabin disappeared slowly from view, but she was sure that she could find it again if she needed to. Just barely visible ahead of her was her horse.
"Hello, Blackberry," she called to the big black stallion. He raised his head and nickered in greeting. "I wish to ride you," she said as she ran a hand over his black silken hide.
"You wish to try," he snorted.
Bryn smiled and pulled a small item from the bag around her waist. She opened her hand to reveal the top half of a very fat carrot. His ears perked forward, and he sniffed it. Blackberry opened his mouth to take it from her, but she pulled it quickly behind her back. "Let me ride you, just through this field and only for a short while. Every time that you do, I will give you another tasty treat," she told him.
"Food before you ride, and I decide when you have to get off."
Bryn nodded and gave him the carrot. "Deal," she said as she kissed his soft neck.
She placed an unsteady hand on his jet-black shoulder. Blackberry stood quietly, patiently waiting for her. He nudged her with his nose, urging her to forget her fears and mount. She grabbed a handful of his silken mane and eased herself onto his back. The tree stump she had been standing on made it easier for her to climb up on him. She was bareback; the only way she knew how to ride. Blackberry turned his head to make sure she was comfortable before walking. He started off slow, sensing her nervousness through her shaking fingers. Bryn had never ridden a horse before, so she was glad that he was being patient with her. She was surprised that he didn't feel much different than Yarrow. As a unicorn, Yarrow was of course slimmer and more graceful than the hulking horse, but Blackberry was more subdued. Rarely was Yarrow placid or ever content to slowly amble through the woods like she was now doing with Blackberry.
Blackberry expertly stepped over tree roots and around rocks. He was at ease in the forest. Once in a while, he turned his head to check on her, but other than that, he was content to just let her ride him. She didn't tell him where to go. Bryn didn't know how to. Yarrow had asked her where she wanted to go and then had taken her there. She supposed it would be the same way with Blackberry. He took a large bite out of a bush along the trail and kept walking. His head was low; another sign that he was relaxed. Bryn listened to the sound of his heavy hooves hitting the dirt trail as she swayed with his rhythm.
A few horses called to them from the river, but Blackberry didn't acknowledge them. He had become an outcast since his arrival. Luca wasn't purposefully mean, Bryn kept reminding herself; he was just being a stallion. And so was Blackberry. It was the way things were. At least they hadn't killed each other.
She suddenly realized how very little she actually knew about her horse. "Blackberry?" she called to him.
His ears twitched back toward her, "Yes?"
"How old are you?"
"Eight years, Miss Bryn," he replied.
"Is that old for a horse?" she asked. Bryn really didn't know much about horses, other than what Mariah or Luca had taught her.
Blackberry turned his head to look at her. "Why? Am I going too slowly for you? Would you like me to gallop?"
She laughed nervously. Whenever his eyes were on her, she felt like she was being sized-up. "Not right now, maybe later. I was just wondering."
He nodded and walked around a large oak tree. "I am in my prime."
"Did you know your mother?"
Blackberry stopped walking and looked at her. She instantly regretted asking the question; she could tell that it was a painful subject for him. "Yes, I knew my mother. Her name was Daisy Mae. She was a cart horse like
me. She died many years ago."
Bryn rested a comforting hand on his muscular neck and stroked him. "I'm sorry, Blackberry," she softly said. The light breeze pulled strands of her blonde hair across her face as she rode.
The stallion nodded and kept walking. "It was years ago, really. Nothing to cry about now. It is just odd that you would bring it up."
"I was curious about your life."
He nodded and bit a fly of his knee. "Very well then. How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"And did you know your mother?" he asked as he kept a watchful eye on her.
Bryn shook her head. "I was given up before I could really get to know her. I was an infant when we said goodbye."
Blackberry sadly nodded. "I am sorry then too."
She bent down and planted a kiss on his velvety-soft neck. "It's nothing. I didn't know her, so I can't really miss her. You knew your mother."
"Yes, I did know her. But it is not the same as when two people, or two Strytas for that matter, know each other. Our master could not talk to us the way you and I can talk. Did your father love your mother, to go to bed with her?"
Bryn shrugged. "I believe he did, yes. But I have heard it both ways. Those stories are from people that had never met them, so I really don't know."
"Maybe he did, or maybe he was a breeding human like my father was a breeding stallion. Are humans put out to stud?"
She laughed and shook her head. "It doesn't work quite that way with humans, Blackberry. At least, not from what I know of them. I haven't spent that much time with humans, not really anyway. I don't know that many humans well. Mariah is the only one I've ever spent this much time with for the most part." She had spent more time with Franklin, but they were hardly ever talking. He had usually been ordering her around or yelling when they were together.
"Do you love this Mariah of yours?" Blackberry asked.
Bryn's hands froze on his shoulders. She wasn't sure of how to answer that question. "I… I think so…" she stammered. What she knew of love, she applied to her feelings about Mariah.
Blackberry snorted and shook his mane. "Silly little Strytas. You love her. You may be able to deny it or try to make sense of it in other ways, but you do love her."
"How do you know?"
"Little Strytas doesn't understand that horses can feel things that you may not want them to know. You think all I can tell from you is that you are nervous right now?" he said with an annoyed swish of his tail.
Bryn bit her lip. She hadn't realized how transparent her emotions were. And she loved Mariah. She couldn't understand why she couldn't just tell Blackberry that she did. It wasn't a secret; almost everyone knew how she felt about her.
"Blackberry?"
"Yes?"
"I do love Mariah. I love her very much," she softly said.
He whinnied and pranced for a moment. "Of course you do, child. Now what say you to going a little faster? I could take you into a field and really let you ride instead of this walking through the woods nonsense," he said as he looked over his shoulder at her.
Bryn grinned and nodded. "I would love that. What should I do?"
His step hastened into a slow trot as he moved through the trees. "You should do nothing. Just hold on, try not to fall off, and don't even think about kicking me. If you want to go faster, all you have to do is ask."
She nodded and hugged her body tightly to his as he cleared the trees and broke into a run. The speed of his gallop knocked the air from her lungs. She hadn't realized a horse of his size could run that fast.
"How are you doing up there?" he called to her as he cleanly jumped over a fallen tree.
She struggled to catch her breath. Finally, she managed a weak, "Fine." The stallion laughed and raced harder than before.
Blackberry suddenly veered around a large tree, turning before Bryn had fully recovered her balance. She fell from his back, landing painfully against a large rock. She sat up slowly as her vision blurred and then cleared. Along her arm were three large bruises, but it didn't seem broken. She flexed her fingers a few times to make sure of her impromptu diagnosis. A few bruises were nothing to worry about, really, but she was concerned when she thought about what Mariah would say when she found out how she had gotten them. Blackberry trotted slowly toward her, a solemn look on his face. "I'm sorry, little one," he nickered as he touched her cheek with the tip of his velvety soft nose.
Bryn nodded and shrugged, if a little clumsily. The bruise on her shoulder was the size of a man's fist, and it made moving her arm awkward and more than a little painful. "It's alright," she replied. "We'll go find Rishi, and she will make everything better." Blackberry nodded and then did something completely unexpected. He tucked one front leg under his body, kneeling down in the grass. His long black mane fell to the ground as he waited patiently for her to slide onto his back, which she did eagerly. Bryn wrapped her fingers in his mane as he straightened up and began walking cautiously to where they had last seen the dragon.
"I'm not a doll made of glass, Blackberry. You can walk faster," she chided after finally getting tired of his slow pace. He was being overly careful so that she didn't fall off again, which was appreciated. But in his attempts to be careful, he was also wasting time and eating away at Bryn's nerves. She knew that he felt guilty for her accident, but his pace was edging on ridiculous. With a tentative tap of her heel against his side, she asked him to go faster. At the first touch of her foot, Blackberry did nothing. But as she continued to nudge him, he came to a complete stop in the tall grass and turned his head to look at her, his eyes narrowing.
"Tap me again, and I will gladly drop you back on the ground," he warned through gritted teeth. His ears flicked back dangerously as he continued to watch her, as if daring her to continue. Bryn shrank back away from him and nodded weakly, all thoughts of reaching Rishi before noon forgotten. When he was sure that she wouldn't try to get him to go faster, Blackberry turned back toward the field and starting trotting on his own. It was a slow jog, but it was enough to get them to Rishi faster than she had anticipated.
It was not yet midday when they finally approached the golden dragon. Rishi lifted her large head and looked them both over, her eyes lingering on the large bruises that dotted Bryn's arm. "Should I even ask?" she said in a voice dripping with disapproval. "You should not be riding that fast, Bryn," she cautioned.
Bryn nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"And you!" Rishi roared as she rose to her full height and stared down at Blackberry. "You should have known better. What were you thinking, galloping around the field like a crazed animal?"
"It was just a bit of fun," Blackberry tried to explain, but quickly bit his tongue as Rishi's nose came level to his. She could have easily eaten him.
"Bruises are not defined as fun," she growled. "And what am I to tell Mariah? That you were gallivanting around here on that horse like a madwoman?"
Bryn's eyes rose to the dragon's face. "Please don't tell Mariah," she pleaded. "It won't ever happen again. I promise."
"Fine, I won't tell Mariah… this time. But you will be careful from now on."
Bryn nodded quickly. "And I suppose you'll want me to heal you then?"
Again, Bryn nodded.
"Oh, all right!"
Rishi ran a golden claw down the length of Bryn's arm. When she had pulled back, Bryn's skin was completely healed. Bryn looked herself over and smiled broadly. "Thank you, Rishi," she chuckled. The dragon nodded and smiled back. Blackberry turned from Rishi and began walking away with Bryn singing quietly to herself high on his back.
Chapter Thirteen
The sun was just beginning to set as Bryn started walking back to the cabin. Her hair was a tangled mess, and she was sure that she looked hideous, but a warm bath would change all that. She and Blackberry had spent the day together riding through the forest. Even though it looked big, she could never have guessed how large it actually was from inside. If they hadn't found a few friendly squirrels to ask
directions, they would probably still be lost deep in the forest. It had taken almost the entire afternoon just to find their way out of it. Bryn fidgeted with a tangled mess of her hair that was clumped with dirt and blades of grass. Although she hadn't fallen off again, she had rolled in the grass and played in the bushes. The river had also provided hours of entertainment before Blackberry had started complaining about drinking so much water that he felt like a fish. Her wings were also dirty, and she was sure that her feet were caked with mud.
Lights shone through the windows of the cabin as she approached and delicious smells from the kitchen drifted on the breeze toward her. She didn't think Mariah would be mad at her for going through the front door and getting her cabin dirty, but she didn't want to make her clean more than she already had to either. So she went to the bedroom window and let herself in. After a quick scan of the room, she realized that she was alone. As she passed over the trapdoor, her mind traveled to Ceylon for an instant.
It was unfair that she had spent most of the day outside, and he was locked underground. She decided to visit him for a few moments later on that evening, hopefully with Mariah's permission and possibly even her company. The demon did seem to be very lonely down there.
Bryn walked into the bathroom and undressed, piling her filthy dress in a corner before slipping up to her neck in the warm bath. Her arm was still sore, but at least Mariah would never know about her accident with Blackberry. He wasn't a dangerous horse, she told herself. He was just a little wild. There was nothing wrong with being a little wild. But Mariah would see it differently, of course, and she was afraid of what would happen if he ever found out about what had happened. It had been an accident, but Bryn knew Mariah well enough to guess how angry she would be at Blackberry for being reckless with her.
The scent of lavender filled the air as she soaked in the warm bath. Her wings, dirty before, were now a pristine white.
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