Darkest Love

by Melody Tweedy

  “Thanks. I’m honestly doing all right.”

  “Well…I haven’t refined these ideas. I’m a pig, remember? Sorry if that came out harshly. I should stick to not trying to explain it.” He wriggled. “But I liked that. That session. That slice of truth. Thank you for showing me that.”

  He wrapped her in a new hug. Annie nuzzled his cheek, enjoying the smells and caresses and for the first time, just accepting it, and not trying to understand him.

  “It was powerful, what we just did,” he whispered. His voice seemed to come from somewhere new, somewhere deeper than usual—a pocket in Rain’s soul not often accessed. Annie squeezed her eyes shut as he started to rock her like a baby.

  Chapter 9

  A bang on the door jerked Rain from his doze. Annie was still in his arms.

  Only when he was sitting straight up, sliding his feet on the floor, did he remember the events of the afternoon: Annie, on a leash, opening up to him in a way that broke his heart. He had thought that soggy old heart of his was dead.

  Rain listened, frowning as another boom echoed through Annie’s hut. It was not coming from the door. Someone was banging on the wall.

  Sighing, Rain shot to his feet and strode to the chair to grab his tank and jeans. He exhaled, remembering Annie’s naked body trailing behind him on that leash.

  Rain pulled his jeans on, swallowing hard. He was not used to feeling like this. He himself had choked a couple of times as he watched her body scampering on the floor. He marveled at the strength she showed, even down there: the movements of her body and the self-contained, proud motions of her head.

  He had seen something. He had seen Annie’s future.

  How could she be proud on her knees, with her head bowed? Rain had marveled at it. He felt like he had seen sparks of a woman who was yet to emerge, who needed to deal with those issues. She would hold onto her pride after she rose to her feet.

  He swept to the door, past Annie’s journal and gin glasses, ready to yell at whatever Kaamo kids were beating the hut with a stick.

  Night had fallen. The sky outside the window was inky black, covered with stars. Rain stared for a moment at that square of darkness. He had gotten used to the light pollution in New York and forgotten how bewitching it was here, in the middle of the Pacific. That window was better than any painting or vintage poster—a square of the sublime in the corner of Annie’s hut. It pulled the eye in, made you marvel at the density of those golden freckles.

  Rain pulled the door open, preparing to charge out, bracing himself for the cool air that always blew in from the river at this hour of the night. He cleared his throat, ready to release a holler of the only type the Kaamo kids would understand: Loud.

  But it did not happen. Standing at Annie’s door, on the shore of the river lapping peacefully and frothily under a gibbous moon, was a girl.

  The most beautiful girl Rain had ever seen.

  * * * *

  Annie ran to the door and almost laughed when she saw Sola’s face over Rain’s shoulder. She had described Rain to Sola as my strongest bringer of fire—the Kaamo expression for hot really. No wonder Sola’s amber eyes sparkled with awe and curiosity.

  “Princess Sola.” Annie had meant to tell Rain about this but the small matter of the sex—that psychosexual excavation had undergone—had gotten in the way. “Princess Sola. This is the man. My fire-bringer.” She placed a hand on Rain’s shoulder. “Rain Mistern.”

  Rain swept around. “This is her?”

  Annie nodded. Taking Sola’s hand in her right hand, and Rain’s in her left, she weaved the fingers together. The clasp hung loosely. It was the Kaamo gesture for friends meeting in goodwill.

  “Princess Sola, newly liberated from her hiding pace. She walks free, for she has decreed that our meeting is important.”

  Annie stared at the connected hands. Sola’s hands astonished her. Everything about them, from the mocha skin tone to the slender fingers to the crescent moons on the fingernails, was as perfect as the rest of her.

  “Welcome, bringer of fire,” Sola said to Rain. “You bring warmth to the night. My eyes and Miss Annie’s are sparkling like the stars.” Sola’s teeth flashed as she grinned, and her eyes were indeed lit up. “For our meeting the universe has been gathered up…” She swept her hand through the air. “…and concentrated in our eyes, and in our hands.” She nuzzled Rain’s fingers with her nose.

  Rain’s mouth dropped open. He did not look away from Sola, but directed his next comment to Annie. “She speaks English?”

  Annie nodded. She couldn’t help laughing at Rain’s face. He looked like he was about to faint.

  * * * *

  “It was Paulo who taught Sola to speak English,” Annie explained. “Remember the guide who was here?”

  “And how exactly was this negotiated? If she is barely allowed to leave her caves?”

  “Through her tribesmen, of course. Paulo has been coming to Sivu since it was discovered.”

  Rain scoffed. “I know the Kaamo. They are deeply protective of their women. No way would they let a white man cut a deal with their princess.”

  “Ah, that’s where you are wrong.” Annie shuffled, wishing Sola and Rain would drop their hand clasp. They were staring at each other like a bride and groom. Annie was positioned like the priest, ready to recite some vows to them. “If Sola decrees something, it happens. We are talking about Princess Sola, Mr. Mistern.”

  “They are very pro-tec-tive,” Sola said, finding that word difficult. “They are pro-tec-tive indeed. Yes. Very much.” Her smile was cheeky and warm, and her eyes danced like imps. “But I explained. I told my men that on the night Annie came, I had a dream. I dreamed she and the man she loves will find peace on Sivu, and bring me much happiness.”

  Annie saw Rain’s Adam’s apple jump, and her own cheeks burn. The man she loves.

  “Wait until you hear what’s next.”

  “In my dream there was a storm.” Sola paused, smiling. “Rain. Rain falling from the sky. And when it evaporated…” She threw her hands up, finally dropping Rain’s hand. “…it took my sorrows with it.”

  Annie wished Princess Sola would not look so alluring. The younger woman continued, “When I heard my men say the name Rain I knew you were him. I didn’t tell them about the dream. I was worried they would feel…”

  “Jealous,” Annie offered.

  “Jealous. They would feel jealous if they knew about my dream. So I made a decree.” She smiled. “I told them I would walk free for the next few months and meet the man named Rain.”

  She nuzzled Rain’s fingers again, and Annie laughed. “Rain, she doesn’t mean to flirt. It’s the Kaamo sexual openness.”

  Rain didn’t look perturbed about it at all.

  Chapter 10

  “Wasn’t Sola’s dream a lucky break?” Annie said to Rain after the princess had left. “Perfect timing. A convenient little bit of bullshit.”

  “Don’t talk about Kaamo beliefs like that, Annie,” Rain said, still reeling from the shock of meeting the princess. She was so alluring! The nuzzling of her nose on his hand had gotten his heart thumping. And his penis had definitely stirred as he watched her backside retreating into the night.

  He was making every effort not to look at Annie as she peeled her t-shirt off. It’s tough being surrounded by hotties. Those big breasts bouncing in the lantern-light could spring him up again. At this rate Rain’s brain was going to short circuit from the constant re-routing of blood: head to heart to dick and back again.

  “You know what I mean.” Annie yawned, snuggling under the blankets. Rain watched her in his peripheral vision, waiting for her luscious bosoms to disappear under the blanket before he looked at her straight on.

  “Rain.” She laughed suddenly, smacking him on the arm.

  “What?”

  “Rain, after Sola had that dream, and she found out about you, she ordered her warriors to do a kulku dance in your honor. A war dance to welcome a stranger. She chan
ged the incantation, made them say they are at your service. I saw them chanting: All my arms and all my blood! All my arms and all my blood!”

  “Were you watching?”

  “I was far away, under the limestone cliffs. It was an amazing sight. Imagine it. Two dozen men the size of trucks, beating their chests and chanting their allegiance to you. Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain! They screamed it again and again. Do you remember Mytu…?”

  “Uh huh.” Rain remembered the man very well. Scars crisscrossed the guy’s arms and legs like a network of New York streets. He had an angry spark in his eyes. The Kaamo said Mytu broke native bear’s spines over his knee.

  “Mytu had to make an offering at the end of the chant. A bit of a homage.” Annie winked. “A homage to you! He cut his arms and let the blood spill on the dirt, flinging his arm back and forth. Buckets of it must have shot out to sea. It looked like he was throwing paint at the sunset, to add a new pink tinge to the sky.”

  “Oh, God.”

  Annie shook her head. “I know. He volunteered for that part. It is a point of pride for them.” She smiled, cheeks rosy, and rested her head on the pillow. “An honor.”

  “So he’s got a new scar?”

  “A big new scabby wound in your honor, Mr. Mistern. It hasn’t healed into a scar yet.” Annie patted Rain’s arm. “Just think. While you were in New York, doing whatever you were doing–book signings, fucking Mandy, whatever—”

  “Please don’t start—”

  “While you were doing all that stuff,” Annie hurried on, “a group of men were screeching your name at the sky. Blood was shed in your name. And a beautiful princess,” her face fell slightly. “A beautiful princess made a pledge to you.”

  “I don’t do long-distance relationships.”

  “What a shame. She’s from a different culture. Probably just your thing.” Annie gave him an uneasy wink. “No spray tan on her.”

  “And no past sexual experience.”

  He regretted it as soon as he said it. Annie’s face really fell at that.

  Harsh.

  Very harsh, actually. She’d just broached kinky new territory with him.

  Rain had a habit of letting thoughts like that slip out at bad moments. “Sorry Ann.” It was awkward, but not his worst call. One time, while Annie was badgering him about his sexism, he had dealt a lower blow. “A woman who studies human societies should know men don’t go in for sluts”. He’d regretted it as soon as he said it.

  “Can you imagine if you slept with Princess Sola?” Annie asked, clearly trying to sound more light-hearted than she felt. “It would cause the scandal of the century.”

  “You think?”

  Annie didn’t seem to pick up that it was a droll remark, drenched in sarcasm. Of course Rain knew that was scandalous. “In the anthropology community? Rain, there would be a witch-hunt,” Annie said. “A warlock hunt. I really think someone would shoot you.”

  “You may be right.”

  “Uh-huh. Come on. Rain Mistern, sexual predator, takes advantage of a vulnerable island woman? During his research trip!”

  “And what if Sola came on to me?” Rain grinned. “Princess Sola. I would have to follow her decree.”

  Annie guffawed. The great pffffft sound that issued from her lips was as moist and rattly as Skittles shaking in lemonade. “You are not one of her subjects, white man.”

  “I am exotic, as far as Miss Sola is concerned. And quite below her,” Rain teased, edging away from Annie’s slap on his wrist. “It’s she who would be taking advantage of me.”

  “Grow up.”

  “She has dreamed that I will enter her, planting a seed of Kaamo prosperity in her body.”

  “Shut up, Mistern.”

  Rain kept grinning. “Who am I to resist? To say no would be to interfere with Kaamo culture. What if they fall into despair because their princess is not obeyed? What if they kill their newborns?”

  Annie gave him that point. “Very tricky ethical territory.”

  “I should probably just lie back and enjoy it. It is my duty.”

  “It would probably get to the UN. They’d make a good case for banning field studies like this.”

  Rain reached for the lantern and blew the candle out. He gave Annie a hug, hoping he’d soothed her and hadn’t distressed her before the coming explorations. There was a lot to do on Sivu, and he wanted her crisp, happy and taking notes. And he definitely didn’t want any personal dramas.

  * * * *

  “Rain, for God’s sake, duck!”

  Rain could not duck. He had one foot barely clinging to the granite surface through friction, the other nestling in a tiny crag that accommodated his big toe and not much more. His hands were both occupied, clinging to whatever jutting in the rocks they could find. Annie was already above him, skirt billowing as she stood on the precipice. He could see flashes of knickers when he lifted his head.

  Looking up felt so perilous he shot his head back down immediately. A glimpse of that triangle of woman’s underpants, while widely sought-after, was not worth a thirty foot plummet to the ground.

  “Rain, they are about to throw their spears. For God’s sake, hurry. They will skewer you! Pin you to the cliff side.”

  Rain could see the source of Annie’s worry. A red lyrebird, considered evil by the Kaamo, had landed in a patch of scrub on the side of the granite headlands, probably to check for nectar. Kaamo lore said the bird brought unease to tribal relationships and death to new male infants. A spear through a lyrebird would save the tribe that trouble, and make you a hero for a week.

  Evil bird, bringer of trouble. I agree with that, Rain thought as the first Kaamo spear shot past his head, whizzing so fast it brought high notes like music to its ears. The spear lodged in a scrubby patch in the rock, closer to his head than to the demon bird.

  “Hurry! Use the spear to climb up.”

  Rain’s legs tensed, ready to heed Annie’s advice, but he stopped when he glimpsed the spear in his peripheral vision. It was much too far away; Annie clearly could not tell from where she stood, or maybe—after all the thrusting and semi-violent sex he had done with her—she thought he had super-human leaping powers.

  “Leap!” Annie had climbed up before him, taking a long, safe route he had scoffed at. He’d waited while she climbed slowly, finding a path of solid surfaces to the top of the cliff. It had taken half an hour, while Rain exchanged words with the Kaamo in the valley below.

  He cursed himself now for his foolhardiness. A second spear whizzed by his ear, clattering against the rock and falling with a dusty skid down the granite to the ground below. Rain shivered, sensing the height of the fall through the last tiny rattle that reached his ears. The fate of that spear could easily be his.

  Rain’s hands were moistening so quickly they were starting to slip. He grabbed for a better hand-hold. His heart hammered as he felt how his hand slipped, barely settling at the end of the slick rock, grabbing the very end. His fingers had almost slid right off.

  Time to make a move. Spears were zipping faster, and beads of sweat from his hairline were starting to pour, drizzling down into his eyes so they stung with salty tears. He tried to blink, but a new stream of saltwater dripped into his eyes, cruel in its quickness and insistence. Rain’s thighs quivered and burned in agony.

  I can’t see.

  “Jump!”

  Annie’s cry activated some primal part in his brain, and Rain did. Before he could reconsider the distance, angle or anything else about the spear, his thighs just tensed and he leapt for it.

  “Aargh!” Annie screamed above him. Rain was flying, sweaty hands and body cooling rapidly in the air and toes rejoicing at finally being freed from their death-lock in the tiny hold. It was just for a second. His arms and legs tensed again, flailing across the granite, while his eyes searched the surface.

  The spear. The spear.

  He needed to grab it. When it didn’t appear Rain assumed he’d leaped too low, undershooting the promis
ing handhold in the side of the cliff.

  He was skidding. His heart hammered, his hands and feet scampered. His face was covered with dust and blood. Rain slid down the rocks, trying to grab for something, anything. A spike. A shrub. He could barely see, and only dangerous crumbling segments of rock showed up through the salt in his eyes. He panicked, grabbing faster, but every handhold either crumbled away or assaulted his fingers with a bloody gash or rejected them smoothly, letting them slide sweatily instead of offering a grip.

  Clang. Like magic the spear appeared. It clanged against Rain’s leg as he was skidding, its hold firm enough to disrupt his skid and send him on a different trajectory. He was able to grab it in his fist, hand less sweaty now after the blasting with blood, dust and wind.

  His grip held. Rain spun around, knees battering against the cliff side. A spiky ledge scratched his shins painfully as he came to a sudden stop. He was not sure if this was a new Kaamo spear or the first one—had I overshot or undershot?—he didn’t care. He was saved.

  “Rain. Rain! Grab the next ledge and fucking get yourself up!’

  Annie was screaming. Steadying himself, Rain saw what she had seen, a convenient smattering of ledges to his left, leading up to the apex. Adrenalized and emboldened by this twist, Rain went for the path. His sneakers scuffed, carrying him up the cliff, from foothold to foothold. The spear was the first great hold on his way up. He twisted, craned, leapt and glided over the rock, not giving himself a chance to second-guess, guided by instinct and a new heartening burst of hope and confidence. By the time he reached the top he felt like he was flying, defying gravity, walking over steep parts with quick scuffs of his feet and hands, easily as if it had been horizontal.

  “Rain!” Annie covered him with fussing hands, first on his forehead, then his chest and thighs and wrists as he collapsed. She felt for his pulse and gasped at the amount of blood on his shirt.