by Brenna Lyons
But, to his surprise, Anna’s baby had not been a boy. It was a girl, and she was Regana. Not like the others had been like Regana— There was some indefinable quality that was uniquely Regana, some quality that the baby growing inside Anna shared with Regana that none of the others had possessed, even her mother. Having two souls calling to him that way was confusing but exciting.
Some mad part of Jörg saw the babe as his salvation. She was Regana, and without being freed, she could be the mate none of the others could. She could carry his children as none of the previous reincarnations could have. Jörg could have the experience of running his hands over the pregnant belly of a woman who carried his child and actually raise it with her as he should have with Regana.
Their children would be the rest of his salvation. The perfect meld of beast powers and immortality matched with the ability to use the sacred weapons, walk in the daylight, eat human food, and have emotion would make them the ultimate beast killers. They would be the supreme beings on the Earth. Raised correctly, with the proper training and respect for life instilled in them, the warriors would accept them as they had Pauwel, the slayers and their parents both.
The problem was in keeping Anna and her baby secure. If the babe were not freed, elder and warrior alike would be determined to take her from him. That was not something Jörg was prepared to undertake at the time, but Jäger was. He’d cursed himself for allowing the other man to retain custody of Anna in the meantime, but Corwyn’s skill was far superior to that of his brothers. Simply put, Colin and Stephen were not strong enough to be trusted to protect his mate and his wife, and so Jörg could not kill his rival.
Long before he came for Anna again, he had prepared everything they needed. Corwyn’s attempts to keep them hidden from Jörg were laughable at best. Once Jörg had connected with the babe, he could trace her as long as she was within a certain range of him. Even with Anna’s amulet, he had touched and could continue to touch the child in her womb independently. Babies in the womb sleep for much of their lives, allowing Jörg to form a true bond with Erin over the long months of waiting. She would know him and accept him from the first breath she took.
Jörg would have taken them sooner if it were not for two problems. First, he could not guarantee Anna medical care that was as skilled, dependable, and trustworthy as Jäger’s would be. And second, he could not risk feeding on Anna once her pregnancy became advanced. Without that step, she would live in constant terror of him, and Jörg could not bear that — or bear it for her. It had been better to let Anna stay where she felt secure and happy until it was safe to take them, no matter that it meant her sharing that damned warrior’s bed.
The plan had been simple. Jörg used cues from the babe to discover when she would be born. There were variations to the plan. If the birth looked to be a daytime event, his bought humans would make sure the Jäger men were out of the house until well after nightfall, so that there would be no chance to free Anna’s child before he took them both. If her birth seemed slated for the night, Jörg would have to take them quickly, as soon after birth as he could manage.
The twist came if Anna required extra medical care. Jörg would have to decide whether to take only the babe and come back for Anna when she was recovered or take their doctor and both women. That would be a tricky situation. Jörg could lose Anna either way, and losing Anna would be painful, even with his mate still in his custody.
He’d prepared for it, regardless. Jörg had no fears of losing the babe. Unfreed, she would be as hardy as any male warrior child was. Erin would not be lost to miscarriage, at birth, or to illness. Warrior babies did not suffer such things.
But, nothing went right somehow. Corwyn returned to his home and had started the ceremony to free the child before night fell fully. Jörg would have taken her still. She was still Regana, but he would have reaped down much punishment for the loss of his children. As if that were not enough, Anna escaped to death before he could learn where Erin was or calm her to his true intentions.
He grimaced at that. He’d not done a good job of calming her. Jörg had been furious at her for hiding their child. What had Anna been thinking to do such a thing? In the dead of winter, it would have been far too easy for Erin to freeze to death. There had been no time for games, and so Anna saw the beast in him for the second time.
In a moment of crystal clarity, Jörg had known that Anna would never be his, and it hurt him as nothing in his life had save the loss of Regana – or Caitrina. Erin had been the only one who mattered then. Jörg would have left Anna to her chosen despite his threats – if only he had Erin by his side. But, Anna was not easily threatened, and so she escaped him to death.
Worse, her amulet hid Erin from him and his turned beasts until she was far outside his range. By the time the search took him to KreuzStütze range, her mind had changed sufficiently that he could no longer recognize her, unless her being called to him without that damned amulet as a shield or he touched her.
Over the years, Jörg had watched for unusually high concentrations of beasts, and he had noted the congregation of beasts in and around Salem, NH several times, but he was no closer to finding her. The run-ins Jayde had with Grelden and Shorig — coupled with losing her maidenhead — were a major source of frustration for Jörg. Always, he was too late to keep her from slipping through his fingers. Always, she was in danger, and he couldn’t protect her. Again, his prior claim was cast aside as another laid claim to the soul that he had printed to.
It didn’t surprise Jörg to find Jayde pregnant to KreuzStütze. After all these centuries, he had come to expect it of the damned stone and the gods who punished him. So, when he sensed her, when her arm touched his chest early in their battle, Jörg had smiled to himself. If the warriors were good for one thing, it was sowing their seed.
Despite what he said to anger Talon, he would have let Jayde keep the warrior’s son, Jörg’s so many times removed grandson through both of them, though eighty generations or so removed from him either way. Jörg would even have raised the child as his own, as long as Jayde gave him children of his own as well.
The only one of his promises that had been a lie was letting Talon live. Jörg had learned from experience that he could not risk it any more than he could inflict that suffering on another printed man. He would have returned to kill Corwyn later, but Jörg had been in a hurry to find Anna and Erin at the time.
It had been a mistake to let Corwyn live, but not one that cost him dearly. Jörg would not make the mistake again. All else that he promised Jayde had been a solemn vow, but nothing he promised or threatened swayed her from her chosen course.
Jörg had been surprised by her fighting skill. No man had ever fought as she did. No single man had ever caused Jörg such damage, not even a warrior. Not even Pauwel, until he was made beast, had lasted so long against him. Still, he thought – foolishly, Jörg realized now — that he was the victor in the end.
He knew that he would have to feed briefly to make her accept the pleasure he would give her and to reorder her memories to his cause, but Jayde was still early in her pregnancy, so the risk to her child was minimal. Jörg’s body screamed for release with one who was truly Regana. He would love her endlessly, and when Jayde knew herself his in body and soul, he would take her to his home as it should have been.
What Jayde gifted him with was vastly different though no less precious. She granted him death. The blow to his heart had shocked him, and Jörg had backed away instinctively. When she’d wrapped her legs around him and taken his throat, his body had tightened in response to the move.
Jörg remembered Pauwel’s words to Regana when he was educating her in pleasure. “Hold me to you,” Pauwel had asked her as he wrapped her legs about him in just such a way.
Jörg hadn’t even felt her blade slice through him in his ecstasy.
His smile widened as he lay dying. The only better thing would be dying in her arms, as Regana had died in his, his lifeblood flowing from his n
eck as hers had so many centuries before. Still, Jayde had granted him death, and that was more than he had dared hope for in so very long.
“Free,” he assured her.
As the light left his eyes, Regana was the last vision he saw. If only he could understand why she seemed so concerned, so upset. Only in death was he freed.
The light came at him suddenly, the starfire that seared his soul so many centuries before. Jörg welcomed it, praying it would burn away the rest of him to ash, to the oblivion of nothingness he had prayed for so many times.
The light took form, the rising sun over a wooded hillside. Jörg shied from it, the habit of centuries, then straightened to meet his death when his beast did not balk at the move. There was no burning, no pain in the warmth on his skin.
Tears ran freely down his cheeks. Jörg could walk in the sun. There was no beast calling to him, no stone taunting him. He’d found peace, freedom in a way he never dreamed of.
“Jörg!”
He startled at the voice, turning to meet Regana, but it wasn’t Regana. It was Caitrina as he first saw her, her color high and dressed in the dark blue brocade she wore to greet him. Her blue eyes sparkled, and she laughed, a joyous sound that made his heart ache, sure that she would be stolen away the moment he touched her.
Jörg reached for her with a shaking hand, unable to stop himself. “Caitrina,” he rasped. She was the only one of Regana’s souls who’d fully accepted him, the only one he married, the one he held longest in his arms. Jörg gasped as he touched her, but she didn’t melt away.
Caitrina threw herself into his arms. “You have been gone so long,” she whispered. “I was worried. I don’t like it when you leave me.”
He buried his face in her hair, holding her to his chest. “I will never leave you again,” he promised.
Two Hearts Beat as One
Pauwel of Regana
Third Place for Poetry in the P&E Polling 2004!
The dark earth enfolds me in healing sleep
While my love lays apart in daily rest.
My heartbeat with hers steady pace shall keep.
Her absence, as always, leaves me bereft
And fear for her safety my patience tests,
‘Til darkness comes and she lay in my arms,
Bringing peace to my soul and far from harm.
Veriel of Regana’s soul
Time and time again, I find you my love.
I rush to your side when I hear your call.
Your need flies to me on wings of a dove,
And at your feet to serve, I gladly fall.
To protect you, I always join the brawl,
But, ne’er are you mine to hold in the end,
Though to every whim of yours I would bend.
Corwyn of Anna
My love, before I leave, grant me your kiss.
I go to hunt the beasts that stalk the night.
Your body next to mine in sleep I’ll miss
’Til the morning brings peace again and light.
Protecting you drives me forth to the fight.
A single moment in your loving arms,
And I’d welcome death to keep you from harm.
Regana
As the mother of all, proudly she stands.
The stone knows her secrets as no man can.
Happiness and love she holds in her hands.
Heedless of laws that control every man,
The flames of passion her loveliness fans,
Drawing her lovers to deepest desire.
Silken hair dark as night and heart of pure fire.
Talon of Jayde
Your guardian, I have chosen to be
As the stone asks, though I hear not its voice.
I have my orders. I know my duty,
But my heart screams to make its lifelong choice.
Call me your own, and my heart will rejoice.
Until that day, in torment I will live…
Until yourself to me you ever give.
Pauwel of Regana
My soul cries out as the earth holds me tight
Far from my love and the peace of her hand,
’Til freed am I to walk one more dark night
To meet with my lady as we had planned…
Her first touch a salve on this burning brand.
Every moment apart, she fills my dreams
And cold earth muffles my tortured screams.
Regana of Pauwel
Foul sun, may the clouds hide thy face from me.
No longer your visage sweet comfort brings.
My love lays trapped ’til darkness sets him free
Then flies to my side on the night mist's wings,
And my sun-hardened heart relearns to sing.
My heart hides as I scurry ’neath your eye,
’Til my love's moon rises to draw him nigh.
Excerpt from Early Histories
Section One
By Gawen first Lord KlingeStütze, stone lord and master trainer
Know you now that I set ink to paper in the year 535. The stone, as always, amuses itself at our expense. When I took my place as stone lord, I believed this war would be short as the last beast war was short. I thought that stories could be held as knowledge only to those few first cursed and taken to our graves with us. With the passage of time, I find that I will soon pass from this realm into the warrior’s rest, and there are things I would tell before the gods take me.
Some are those tales known only to those first cursed, but with the deaths of many of the first lords and more importantly of my beloved nephew Andris, they are truths I would have future generations know for the protection of all. Those most affected, my dear sister and her family, no longer live to be harmed by these truths.
The warriors are strong, but the end hinges not on the strength of men but rather on the strength of a woman.
Born to my household and given to me as my own in the stone’s trust, Regana was strong and bold as any warrior ever was. Known for her importance only to Sibold, she was raised in battle play with the young warriors and educated as a lady by Kethe, sister of Pauwel.
Though her coloring was that of the stone chosen, the gods hid her blood mark well. Not even I saw it as I cared for her as she grew. Not even Pauwel saw it as he took her to his bed as wife. Beneath her hair lay the symbol of Ani, and Regana was granted protection of the stone as befits a mother. It was not until long after Sibold’s death and my succession as stone lord that this was made clear to me.
In retrospect, such a thing should have been clear even to the blind! Her coloring aside, Regana could have been naught but the stone chosen mother. From her earliest days, she was never one to follow commands, as much to my dismay as Sibold’s. A warrior’s heart beat in her chest, but untamed as any woman’s soul.
Raised with the young warriors, she knew them all well; but she knew myself, Pauwel and Jörg best of all. Jörg was as her brother. Only half a year separated them in age, and to my great shame, the young pup was raised by me in place of his dead father. Many a year, I have been tortured by how I might have done different by him, but in the end, ’twas his curse that undid him.
When Jörg began his training, our number was complete. Sibold partnered us for battle: Wilhelmus with Olbrecht, Cunczel with Dado, Ditrich with Geldric, Gerhardus with Bertolf, Tilbrand with Redulf, and Pauwel with Jörg. I, as leader, partnered no one.
Sibold matched the warriors to complement each other in battle. Pauwel and Jörg were our strongest, named by the stone as such and proven in trial with the others. Marked by the symbols of Ori and Reg, they burned bright as their symbols foretold. Pauwel with his cool grace and Jörg as a fiery berzerker complemented each other well, as if born to fight side by side instead of head to head. Closer than brothers in many ways, they knew each other’s fighting styles like no other could.
But the stronger the warrior, the stronger the curse. While the other elders went to the stone in greed or fear, spurred on by M
arclef’s promises, Jörg was lost to madness. It was the only likely way for him to circumnavigate the stone’s protection and deliver up the ancient beasts, earning his title of the mad deceiver.
NOTE: In the original text, there is a section here scratched into unreadability, presumably by Gawen’s own hand.
Pauwel succumbed to his own form of madness, reaching Ende Spiel and pursuing Regana for his own. Whether he fell because of his stronger curse or because the object of his printing was Regana was never clear. Either way, Raga went to the lord elder slayer as was right.
That transgression might have cost Pauwel his life, not by Sibold’s hand but by my own and the hands of our cursed brothers. Safe from my hand by virtue of Regana’s love for him, his need and love for her, and the fact that Andris slept in her womb; it fell to me to keep peace as master trainer.
Pauwel was the lord elder slayer. While none of our brethren had any more knowledge of what Pauwel and Regana represented together than I did, still none matched him in battle and this they knew well. It was better to have him fallen but fighting than dead by a blade, whether that blade be my own or Sibold’s.
Those warriors who remained after the beasts were released chose their mates as the stone intended for them, none interfering with another. The elders, now beast, knew only one drive. Drawn to Regana by some unnamed force, they sought to possess or to destroy her, each in his own way. Veriel came for her the first time the night after he went beast, but he was driven off by her amulet and my blades.
I thought at the time that it was strange that the beasts were granted this knowledge denied the warriors themselves. Or perhaps, they knew not why they pursued, as Pauwel knew not why he burned for her so. Still, they pursued.