by T. G. Ayer
“You picked a brilliant spot,” she said, raising her voice a little in order to be heard above the sound of chasing water.
He shook his head. “I chose the waterfall yes, but the heat was a design of nature. There is geyser activity in the region, so I suspect there may have been a few new spouts come up since we set this place up.”
Allegra nodded as he swam closer. Her eyes flitted to her towel, a flash of white peeking through the falls. “I think I should get back. I need to get some rest and this water is so relaxing I’m sure I’ll be asleep in no time. And Les will be wondering where I am-”
Allegra knew she was babbling and when Max floated closer and ended up right in front of her, she shut her mouth mid-sentence. Paddling backward she directed her movement toward the falls.
When she climbed up inside the alcove she realized she was in a worse position than before. Within the water she was protected and hidden. Now her nakedness would be in full view of her single admirer who was now climbing up the ledge.
Allegra had just wrapped the towel around her and tucked the flap between her breasts when Max walked up to her. She grabbed his towel and threw it at him over her shoulder.
When she turned around he’d wrapped it around his waist and was standing there watching her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were . . . shy.”
“I’m not shy,” she said. And she really wasn’t. Not until she’d found herself naked and in the company of this man in particular. She cleared her throat. “I’d better go.”
Max nodded and began to follow her. Allegra realized too late that she’d headed in the wrong direction, opposite to the ledge that would take her back the way she’d come. She turned on her heel and found herself chest-to-chest with Max.
She stepped to her left and Max stumbled as he tried to move out of her way. Allegra spun on her heel to grab him, instinct saying she needed to save him in case he fell over the edge.
Instead, she found herself slipping on a patch of smoothed stone.
Warm arms encircled her, spinning her around until her back was to the wall of the alcove.
A sheet of water rained down on them and Allegra grunted, aware now that her towel was soaked. Army issue towels were not as thick as one would have liked.
“Max?” she said prodding his shoulder in order to get him to move back. “Thanks for the save, but you kind of missed the dry landing.”
With water rushing over their heads, they both looked to their left where the wall was bone-dry.
Max grinned and Allegra poked his chest this time. Heat had begun to rise between them. Heat which had nothing to do with geysers.
Max’s body was up against hers, his warmth covering her, heating her through to her bones. His face was inches from hers and she lifted her chin to stare at him through the shower cascading down on them.
It was inevitable, the way continents collide, the way the sun rises, the way the moon beckons the waves. Max lowered his lips to Allegra’s, and she sighed as she opened her mouth to take him in.
He tasted as good as he had the first time they’d kissed in Londinium—which now felt like eons ago.
Max deepened the kiss and Allegra moaned as heat flooded her limbs. Her breathing quickened and soon long slow kisses turned frantic, rushed, desperate.
Allegra’s fingers sank into Max’s hair as his lips trailed across her cheek, and down her neck where his heated mouth paid homage to the sensitive skin beneath her ear, the long column of her neck and the hollow above her collarbone. He lavished attention on the skin above the towel before searching out her mouth again. She pulled him close, desperate for more as her body throbbed with need.
Max’s hand moved away from her waist and settled on her breast, his large palm laying claim at last. She let out a soft cry and surged toward him as he tugged at the towel.
The sodden piece of material fell to the stone floor as Max pressed up against her body. Allegra lifted her leg, curling her heel around his waist. All she knew was that she wanted more. More of Max.
She heard the birds cry in the distance, heard the rush of the water competing with the thudding of her heart. She felt the heat from their bodies rise, overpowering the warmth of the waterfall.
They moved in a silent rhythm, a timeless song that spoke of desire, of need, of hope and of carnal delight.
A voice at the back of Allegra’s mind whispered that perhaps this wasn’t a good idea, that he was her protector. That there were lines they were both in the process of crossing.
But she batted the intrusive thoughts away and reveled in the feel of this man. For the moment, he belonged entirely to her and she wasn’t going to waste a single second thinking about anything but him.
Chapter 34
The shadows were lengthening and the clearing had cooled considerably by the time they returned to the cabin in the trees.
Max headed off to the helicopter, probably to oil the blades and such. Which to Allegra translated to not reporting to all and sundry—aka Celestra—that they’d just spent over an hour within the heated waters of the rainbow falls. Together.
Allegra climbed into the cabin to find Les lying on a cot beside a net-covered window, staring out at the clear sky.
She shifted her gaze to Allegra and gave her a small smile. A judgment and jealousy-free one.
Relieved, Allegra smiled back and the two women set about preparing a meal from a range of tinned food that looked suspiciously like they dated back at least a decade.
Later, Allegra took the path of ignorance being bliss, and ate her fill while attempting to avoid Max’s eyes.
After dinner he offered to clean up and as Allegra got comfortable on her cot, Max cleared his throat. “You both need to be ready. We leave as soon as it’s dark.”
The instruction brooked no argument and Allegra was too tired to complain about lack of rest.
The soak in the mineral-enriched hot water had done wonders for her aching muscles. Sleep took her, pulling her deep within its bone-numbing embrace.
And Allegra passed out like a light.
Chapter 35
As much as she’d been afraid of visions or dreams destroying her rest, Allegra found that she’d slept like the dead.
She shuddered at the analogy and pushed herself up on the cot. Beside her Les was already folding her clothing and dusting out the blankets from the cot.
Returning the cabin to its previous state of acceptable tidiness, the three descended only for Allegra to stand agape at the chopper, now taking pride of place in the middle of the clearing, lit by half a dozen torches guarding the site.
Max instructed them to get inside while he attended to the torches, blowing them out and storing them up inside the tree that had once held the chopper. He boarded up the entrance to the cabin and hurried over, climbing inside the chopper.
The two women strapped in and secured the doors as Max began flicking switches. Soon he had the chopper in the air and despite the darkness they made their way out with the jungle beneath them.
Max took the chopper in a wide arch and Allegra stared in awe at the sight of the majestic trees stretching out in the distance, its pure unadulterated wildness lit by the silver light of the moon.
Hours later, when the sky began to change color as the sun crept up on the most distant horizon, Max called out to Allegra.
“We’re landing soon,” he looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes holding a message for her that went further than a mere arrival announcement.
She nodded even though he’d already turned back to the controls. After waking Les, Allegra readied herself for the landing, then stared out at the horizon. Max banked the chopper left and the aircraft rose over the top of a small mountain, then dipped low, following the undulation of the land.
Max flew across the valley, and even from a distance Allegra could see a compound up ahead. A large villa was built on the hillside, protected by fences and security on all sides.
This was the Pythia Aurelia�
�s home.
Allegra took a deep breath feeling the sense of home within her bones. Was knowing her predecessor had made her home here making Allegra channel that sense of belonging?
She didn’t know.
And she pushed it deep into her mind as she watched Max land the chopper, watched half a dozen people, including an ancient woman, hurry to the courtyard.
Max helped Allegra and Les alight and beckoned them to follow as he bent slightly forward away from the rushing air of the still spinning rotator blades.
“Ah, Vissarion. What are you doing here?” the old woman croaked as she glared at him, her voice somewhere between teasing affection, and angry irritation.
Max merely smiled at her and bent to kiss her cheek. She narrowed an eye as she looked first at Max and then at Les and Allegra.
Her gaze remained on Allegra for a while and then she smiled, her toothless grin incongruous in the facade of a terrifying old woman.
“Come. I will show you to your room.” Allegra wasn’t sure if the old woman was talking to her or to Max, but she obeyed anyway.
They were led through the small village and up to the villa where the old woman showed them to a large room.
Beside Allegra, Max’s eyes gleamed as they roamed around the room, studying the various items with an easy familiarity.
“You didn’t change anything,” he asked looking over his shoulder at the old woman.
She snorted. “What do I need to change. It waits for her,” she said flicking a finger at Allegra. “If she wants to change, she can change.”
After she shooed Max and Les out of the room, Allegra stared at the low soft bed, and the floor-to-ceiling painting on the wall behind it.
Delphi. The temple on the hillside.
If she hadn’t already guessed as to whose room she’d been given, she’d certainly know it now.
Allegra turned to watch the old woman watching her.
“Why did you give me her room?”
“Because she would have wanted me to.” The old woman moved to the window and pointed at what looked like a large box that performed the task of seat as well as storage trunk.
She pointed at it. “She left this for you.”
“For me?”
“You need to know who you are. Aurelia wanted you to have a place to start.” The old woman looked over at the door. “You may as well show it to him when you are done. He’s going to want to strangle me, but please tell him while I am around. I want to see the look in his eye.”
“Why? Will he be surprised?”
“More like furious. He’s been looking for your past and all he had to do was come looking for it here.” The old woman cackled so loudly that Allegra was sure she would choke and laugh herself to death.
Even after the old woman had left her in the room alone, Allegra could still hear her cackling laughter down the hall.
After a while, a younger girl arrived with water and towels, and pointed Allegra to a door to the patio.
To her left was a path and the girl waved her in that direction. Allegra obeyed and followed the dirt track until she came to a small pool. A roof had been built over the pool, and nine columns encircled the water, holding up the rounded roof.
Two women sat inside the pool and both looked up as Allegra drew closer.
They bent their head to each other and whispered words Allegra could not hear.
Then they stood to leave, both casting shy smiles at Allegra who found herself quite relieved they weren’t leaving because she was a pariah.
Allegra found herself alone and sank into the waters, glad again for the warmth.
She hurried with her bathing trying to shove out the memories of Max and herself. Refreshed Allegra returned to the room, now dressed in what she was sure was an ancient—or at least an ancient-styled—hand-beaded Roman dress.
The style was flattering and Allegra enjoyed the comfort of it.
She met Max and Les in the origin area there the two were drinking tall glasses of something making her mouth water.
She accepted a glass and was surprised to find it was an orange and apple blend with a hint of something almost bitter. And alcohol of sorts. One that kicked a bit of a punch.
After a quiet dinner during which Allegra watched Max banter with the old woman—who Max had finally introduced as Mara, Aurelia’s handmaiden—she was ready to head to bed.
As she rose, Mara said, “I would like to offer my continued service to you, Allegra.” The cackling laughter that followed made Allegra wonder if she was being tested.
Thankfully she wasn’t expected to answer immediately and was relieved to be sent to bed by the bossy old woman.
The night had ended later than Allegra’s body had wanted and she’d trudged to her bedroom exhausted.
Chapter 36
The next morning Allegra was woken by the sound of a million birdcalls, and the shrieking of a parrot or two.
Sunlight simmered on the inky horizon and Allegra rose from the bed to sit at the window and watch the pure beauty of nature in this land.
When the golden sunlight had bled its way into the blue darkness, and when the yellow and gold won the battle over darkness and night, Allegra finally sank to the floor and opened the trunk.
The flat lid was patterned with paintings of women and men cavorting, instruments in hand, many resembling the ones she’d seen in her vision of the temple of Apollo in Delphi.
Allegra lifted the lid and wondered at the lack of security for something that seemed to have so much value.
Inside the box was a folded-up length of fabric, the color a faded mink, its edged banded in rusty bronze thread. She lifted it away, curious as to what it was, but more inquisitive about what else the box could hide, what it held that Mara had felt was so important for Allegra to see.
Beneath the fabric were stacks of books, and tucked at the back was a large leather envelope overflowing with papers. Allegra scanned the books and found they were diaries, documented experiences of Aurelia’s lifetime as well as a few Pythias before her, Cathenna’s diary being one of them.
Written in Ancient Greek, it seemed strange that Allegra was able to understand every word, despite her knowledge of the language being more than a little rusty.
Allegra set the diary aside, mentally putting it on the top of her list to go through. Turning her attention back to the box, Allegra’s fingers reached for the leather folder of their own accord.
She unwound the leather strap and widened the mouth of the folder, her eyebrows rising at the sight of a thick stack of papers that appeared to range in age from recently mass-produced pulp paper to linen and papyrus, yellowed with age, ink almost translucent in places.
Allegra moved the envelope to the bed and spread out the papers, scanning them to identify a pattern. The common factor among so many of the sheets of paper sent Allegra’s heart racing.
Allegra sat back and took another deep breath. Cathenna’s death played over and over in her mind, Langcourt’s ancestor’s cold smile as he stood over her and watched her take her last breaths.
Allegra returned the folder to the chest and was about to close it—feeling a deep ache within her heart at the truth she’d discovered—when something caught her eye.
At the bottom of the trunk was a dagger in a solid metal sheath, the hilt a dull gold studded with gems. Allegra pulled the dagger free and studied the weapon, her eyes widening at the beauty of the blade.
It looked ancient, like something that may have been passed down from Pythias of the past.
Allegra took the dagger and sheath and held the weapon up to the light. She wrapped the belt of the sheath around her hips and slipped the dagger home, absorbing the feel of the weapon against her thigh. She’d never been the type of person to enjoy weapons, and yet for some reason this dagger felt right at home at her hip.
She leaned forward and checked if there was anything else.
One item remained; a folder bound in leather, and edged in brass,
was a very official folder. Allegra opened it slowly, wary of what lay inside, and revealed a pristine white card marked with a short narrow row of lines that varied in width. The card was attached to a piece of paper with a paperclip, only one made of a bright silvery metal unlike the more common bronzed ridged types Allegra was familiar with.
She shifted the card off the paper and studied the details.
The name on the first line was printed in clear letters, although Allegra wasn’t sure what type of typewriter could create a printed letter so clean and sharp.
Her heart thudded as she absorbed this information.
Allegra Jocasta Damaskos
Who else could it be besides Allegra herself? Was this her birth certificate? And if so, what did it mean?
She stared at the date of birth and shook her head. With trembling fingers, she closed the leather folder and placed it at the bottom of the trunk.
Allegra shut the trunk and sank onto the lid. She leaned over, exhaustion pulling at her limbs again, filling her mind like a fog.
She rested her elbows on her knees, then dropped her head into her open palms. Massaging her skull she tried to understand what the birth certificate meant, and what Aurelia meant in leaving it for her to see.
At last she got to her feet and smoothed down the front of her nightdress. The floor was cool beneath her feet as she went into the small bathroom that sat off the room.
After her morning routine, she changed and headed downstairs in search of some form of sanity.
Chapter 37
Mara’s idea of giving Allegra something to do was so far removed from what Allegra had expected that she’d failed the first task outright.
She’d followed Mara all the way to the bottom of the hill and found herself surprised that the grounds, which had been empty yesterday, were now filled with sparring men and women.
Mara had directed Allegra to one end where a tall woman—whose bulging biceps glinted in the afternoon sun—waited.