River God: The Horse Lords

by Diana Drakulich

  “You gave us Soma?”

  “Nay but close. Only Gorya knows the exact recipe. She mixes the Yellow Horse with some other herbs from her pharmakopia.”

  “Woo HAH!” Hahq released a wild whoop. “I don’t care what color `horse’ was in that drink. You risked your life to save us Yeva. In my eyes you will always be Divine!”

  “Semi divine maybe. If we make it out of here alive.” She grinned over at him.

  “I vow I have never enjoyed riding a horse so much!”

  Hahq’s high spirits were catching, enriching her mood until Yeva felt she could fly from happiness. The horses were in high spirits too, their gallop rhythmic, effortless. The miles flew by.

  “You are right Hahq,” Voron called out from behind. “Yeva is a goddess sent from Above. She walks in her own light.”

  “Well said!” Dobrich called out.

  A chorus of agreement followed from the rest of the men. “Thank you Yeva! May the gods bless you and follow you all the days of your life!”

  ”Hey! Don’t get any ideas! No one is to follow or lay a hand on her! Except me. I am Yeva’s guardian. Is that understood?” Hahq staked his claim.

  “We hear you voivode.” Voron laughed. “But the woman has a choice.”

  “Yeva you are the most beautiful woman I have ever known. This is the greatest night of my life and you have made it so. I want to marry you!” Hahq called out in a burst of reckless enthusiasm.

  “Marry me? Beware, the `Yellow Horse’ has loosened your tongue.” She shook her head at his foolishness. “That drink would set a dead man to rutting.” She flashed him a saucy smile. “Morning is wiser than evening. Talk to me then.”

  We will see what happens after the Yellow Horse wears off. In the meantime twelve handsome, virile men are vying for my favor. I may as well enjoy it while it lasts... Yeva consigned herself to her miserable fate.

  A wild exhilaration shot through Hahq’s veins. Usually aloof and reserved, he could hardly believe the words that had flown from his lips. Marry her?! Why not? I am Alive because of Her. Is this the real me finally set free?

  He glanced up to see an incredible night sky, as if for the first time in his life.

  The stars! Gods how brilliant!

  The movement, the very pulse of the heavenly bodies could be seen. Not just seen but felt. The milky way spiraling across the dome of midnight sky in whirling abandon. A brilliant slash across the universe on a night never to be forgotten.

  After hours of cadenced canter, Hahq held up his hand. They halted for a short rest and change of horses. Hahq vaulted onto his other spare, Mystral. Like Taras, the horse rode with just a halter and lead, trained to obey subtle shifts in rider position, weight and leg pressure. Yeva stayed on Zar who appeared to have miles of speed and stamina left in him.

  Mounted on fresh horses they galloped on through the night, running northwest at an angle with the setting moon. Then Yeva turned off the trail and led them down a shallow stream bed that fed into a ravine.

  The water slowed them down but it would help throw the hounds off their scent. For a while. But the Black Cloaks knew they had to run for the Boryesthenes. And there were only a few places the river was shallow enough to ford.

  The sky was turning gray when they finally reached the river.

  Right hand raised, Yeva saluted the great Boryesthenes. “Horned River God – I beseech thee, help us make this crossing!”

  As if in answer, twinkling lights of dawn sparkled off the water top.

  Dismounting they allowed the tired horses a short rest to drink and crop a little grass. In the gray morning light the opposite shore looked very far.

  “Is it shallow enough to ford here?” Hahq asked.

  “Nay the river is too wide, deep and swift here.” Yeva shook her head. “There is a ford upstream about five miles.”

  The men were switching saddles to fresh mounts again when the faint baying of hounds came to their ears.

  “Hurry! We have to reach the ford well ahead of the Black Cloaks.” Yeva said. “It will be slow crossing the river. We must not be caught out under their arrows.”

  They took off at a fast gallop single file along a trail above the riverbank. At a narrow bend in the river, Yeva did not hesitate. She barreled Zar down the bank and straight into the river. The Sauromatae followed, splashing across, swimming along with the horses across the deep pools.

  Hahq placed himself last. He heard a low rising thunder and glanced back to see a black cloud rising above the dawning horizon.

  “Here they come! Go! Go! Yah! YAH!”

  The horses were struggling against the fast current. Slipping on rocks they were floundering, then swimming in parts.

  Just as their party had nearly crossed the river a crowd Black Cloaks dashed up, screaming and cursing bloody murder.

  I would scream too if I had been so easily fooled. Hahq laughed silently. If not for Yeva, Voron and I would be taking the long walk to the Dark House this morning.

  “Come-on Hahq! Hurry!” Voron called .

  Hahq’s horse splashed up onto the opposite bank and dashed under the trees, just as a dark cloud of arrows came raining down. Yeva had ridden Zar under the protective boughs of a broad spreading oak. He pulled his horse up to hers and beamed approval into what he now saw as her jeweled eyes.

  “I love your eyes Yeva.” He whispered his gold-flecked ones plunging to her soul, sending shock waves into her heart. In a loud voice he announced – “Yeva is one of us now. You are no more a Black Cloak Yeva. You are Sauromatae. Right men?”

  “Aye, Yeva is one of us! She is Sauromatae!”

  “Hey Sauromatian offal! You run like whipped dogs! Come and Fight! The frustrated Melanchaeni screamed across the river. “Cannibals will roast your fat rumps! Hah!”

  “Black Cloak jackals! Come and get us!” The Sauromatae laughed and taunted back, brimming with relief and bravado at their narrow escape.

  But Hahq knew their high spirits would not last long. They must now seek out a tribe even more treacherous and bloodthirsty than the Black Cloaks.

  Chapter 11 – Back to Back

  In Skythia no quality is more

  Highly esteemed than friendship.

  There is nothing a Skythian prides himself on more

  Than sharing the toils and dangers of his friend.

  Just as nothing is a greater reproach among us

  Than treachery to a friend –

  Lucian of Samosata, On Friendship, Interview with Abaris

  As the days passed on the raft floating down the Boryesthenes, the River God did his healing work. The shroud of pain clouding the wounded Black Cloak’s eyes cleared. His vision focused. His mind sharpened.

  Sava spent many hours caring for him, feeding him and just talking to him, building the relationship. The trust.

  He knew the Black Cloak was in a very confused state of mind. He must be experiencing deep guilt over his failure to do his duty and accompany Prince Kanxa into the Other World. But gradually the wounded man was getting a grip on his new reality.

  In those times when Sava relaxed and just let the world pass by as they floated down the great blue river, eyes flashed through his mind. He saw Kleo’s laughing amber eyes interspersed with the cold, haunting gray eyes of the cone head priestess, Lashna.

  He flinched at the harrowing pain of betrayal in the Black Cloak’s earthborn eyes in the Cave of Demons. Nor could Sava escape the death agony in the eyes of the Budini victim sacrificed at the Oracle of Targitaos.

  And in the far away world of Sauromatia, he caught glimpses of blue-eyed Bari, his family’s selection for his bride. So many eyes. They all spoke to his soul. And he could not shut them out.

  Though the Black Cloak’s face was gaunt and creased with pain, his eyes were open and aware. As the days passed the man’s inate vigor increased. Soon he was sitting up, feeding himself and walking around the raft.

  Still he did not speak. One day as they sat together watching the
lazy blue-green world pass by Sava told him –

  “My friend, I have a long journey ahead. You are still weak. When we get to the Greek port of Kherson I will pay for your stay at an inn so you can regain your strength. When I return from Taurica I will take you with me to Royal Skythia, if you so desire.”

  At those words, the Black Cloak’s black brows drew together over dark eyes that flared in shock. Sadness seared a hole in the wounded man’s earthen eyes.

  NAY. He shook his head. Adamant. Pressing palm over heart and then to Sava’s heart the sick man croaked:

  “Me – You – Brate,” Brothers.

  “Aye, I have come to feel the same about you, my Brata.” Sava’s voice shook a little. “But you are still very weak. Stay in Kherson. Get well and I will take you with me on my return.”

  Surprisingly strong hands clasped Sava’s right hand. “Nay. Brate. Arkatash.” Brothers. Back to Back.

  The impact of the Black Cloak’s hoarse gutteral vow was as irrevocable as an avalanche of falling rocks. He owed Sava a blood debt. For life.

  “Aye, Brothers. Forever. I am Sava. What is your name my friend?” Sava asked, feeling a surge of elation welling up in his lonesome heart.

  But the man only shook his head. Placing palm over heart he repeated – “Brata.”

  And Sava understood. The Black Cloak was dead to his own people. Never to return to Melanchaenia. Thus he had no family. No tribe. No name.

  “Brata then. My good brother.” Sava took the man’s hand between both his warm palms and squeezed some of his own heart, his own life force into the wounded warrior. “So be it. Arkatash! Always!”

  And in his heart Sava rejoiced. For the first time in his life he had found a true friend.

  Chapter 12 – The Wonder

  There are many wonderful things

  In this world

  But the greatest wonder is Man -

  Sophocles, Greek playwright, c. 450 BC

  Despite the exhausting all night ride, Hahq’s band of Sauromatae only stopped long enough to water and change horses at the Gerrhus, a tributary of the Boryesthenes. They rode along the Gerrhus, headed northwest into the depths of Androphagia.

  A growing sense of dread assailed Yeva the further they went. As cruel as the Black Cloaks were, even they feared the Androphagi. And with good reason.

  When the sun reached its zenith in the sky the exhausted party dismounted to make camp in a tree-lined meadow with good grass for the famished horses. Guards were appointed. The rest threw themselves down on the ground under the trees, too tired to eat.

  Wrapping her cloak around her, Yeva lay down and knew no more. She woke to the light caress of knuckles across her cheek. Hahq’s face hovered above her, his gold-flecked eyes warm, enchanting.

  “Am I dreaming? A noble prince has awakened me.” She smiled up at him.

  “That I am. And you will soon taste the pleasures of my embrace. But until then there is this.” He held out a hunk of cheese and a strip of meat jerky.

  “Hmh, a poor substitute for your embrace I agree. But, I must herald my strength for when you and I meet on the field of battle.”

  “Vixen. You have lit a fire in my loins.” He whispered, lips against her ear. She sat up and Hahq sat next to her, his thigh warmly pressing hers.

  “So let the combat begin.” Grinning, she placed a warm hand on his thigh, all exhaustion blown away by His magnetic presence. “What do we do now?”

  Hahq took a long drink from a water skin, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “We camp here tonight to rest the horses. Tomorrow we keep riding along the Gerrhus toward the dry uplands, until the cannibals find us.”

  “I look forward to it. It has always been my dream to be outnumbered and walk into a camp of hungry cannibals.”

  Hahq was one of four who took first watch that night. He could not have slept anyway. Everyone was restless, nervous. Eyes in the bushes surveiled them. Strange animal calls that might be human signals echoed in the pulsating night air.

  After Dobrich replaced him, Hahq searched out the priestess who had thrown her net of enchantment over him. She was stretched out at the foot of a great oak slightly away from the rest of the men. Good. He lay down beside her, spooning his body against her back and spread his lynx-lined cloak over them both.

  “Yeva…” Warm breath against her ear. Sinfully tempting. No more audible than the night breeze rustling the leaves. “This is not the Yellow Horse speaking… I want you…so much…”

  His hand worked its way into her kurta and caressed her breasts teasing and squeezing her nipples.

  “Hahq…I am so tired.” Her voice was sleep-drugged. She made as if to push him away.

  “Ssshhh… I cannot stop thinking of you ever since that one kiss. Hmmh.”

  His moan soft as the wind, kissing her ear while he ground his rampant erection against her soft rump.

  She turned her head to him. Rising on an elbow he kissed her tenderly, his tongue slow, deliberate, undulating in, out.

  “Your mouth is sweet, like wild cherries.” His voice silky, seductive.

  Long nubile fingers caressed her breasts, tweaking her nipples until she began to writhe and rub her tight ass against his loins.

  His hand lit a trail of desire down to her yoni and deftly stroked her core. Before she knew it Hahq’s agile fingers had untied her leggings and pulled them down. He continued his heavenly ministrations, his fingers sensually circling, caressing her pearl.

  She could feel the hard ridge of his cock still encased in bucksking leggings rubbing the groove of her ass. Then the leggings were gone. Instead a hot thick magic rod pushed and pressed, rubbing, sliding back and forth between her thighs and the folds of her slick yoni.

  Hahq rocked his hips in smooth tantalizing thrusts. “Shhh my Yeva. Don’t worry. Just feel. Is it good? Hmmm?” He growled hoarsely. “Oh god’s balls it is good.” Lifting her hair he kissed her neck inhaling deeply. “You smell like a field of flowers.”

  He kept thrusting without entering her, gripping the base of his cock to glide the bulbous head intimately across her sensual core. Over and over…

  “Do you want more, My Yeva? Shall I take you fully into my embrace? Carry you up to the high king’s pleasure palace?”

  She moaned softly and he took that for acquiescence. With slow deliberate thrusts he pushed the head of his phallus into her core. A little at a time. Then withdrew. At the same time rubbing and circling her pearl with sensual fingers.

  It seemed to Yeva that the high god had created the head of a man’s cock in the perfect shape to bring a woman pleasure. Intense pleasure. She moaned softly as Hahq, lying behind her, pushed in more deeply. His supple fingers simultaneously rubbing her pearl.

  Oh Ah-hh…He groaned. “It has never been like this …so sweet, so tight, so good…oh Yeva…”

  He pushed in deep and hard and stroking and rubbing her yoni as he ground himself against her from the rear. Turning her cheek with his palm he kissed her. Melting lips and tongue rhythmic, wanton.

  She sucked his tongue deeply. It felt so right, so easy. The ecstasy was overwhelming.

  “Uhhh I cannot hold back.” Hahq climaxed in spasms of brilliant ecstasy.

  Inspired, Yeva let him carry her, shooting, bursting up to the high king’s pleasure palace. Panting they kissed with soft lips, relaxed, fulfilled, then fell asleep in each other’s arms, content.

  As usual Hahq awoke in the grey light of predawn. As he became aware of the warm body breathing softly next to him, he felt delight. But then the ruthless, ambitious side of his nature descended like an eagle dropping on its prey.

  His lifelong need for power and recognition crushed and turned to dust the wonder of last night. Ambition sank its talons deep into his heart. Bari is the key to my success in life, not this traitorous witch.

  Bari is beautiful and she wants me. Her family is wealthy and highly respected. If I marry Bari her father will support my effort to become voivode after
Skopasis.

  If I marry Bari then Skopasis will recognize me as his son, because he agreed that his first born son would marry a daughter of Boreas.

  Marriage to Yeva will only cause me problems. She is a stranger, a priestess who betrayed her king. My people hold loyalty above all else. Even though Yeva saved my life, she will always carry the stigma of disloyalty.

  And on top of that Yeva bears the sign of the kako mati. She will be regarded like the sorceress Medea who betrayed her people to save Jason and the Argonauts. When Jason set her aside to marry another, Medea murdered their two sons. Yeva is a marked woman. My judgement will be questioned for having married her.

  But Bari is already promised to Sava, a small voice reminded him.

  Hah. Bari holds no deep affection for Sava. And from what I can see he has no great attraction to her either. I will be doing Sava a favor by taking Bari to wife.

  But in his secret heart Hahq gloried at the chance to take something precious away from his half brother. The favored son. A prize that Sava had been awarded through no effort of his own.

  Bari is mine by right. I am Skopasis’ firstborn. Sava is not even allowed to sit with the men at the council of warriors. He has to sit with the boys. What kind of husband can he be? He does not deserve Bari. A woman like her must be WON. Earned on the field of battle.

  But what about Yeva? She has given me her heart. She trusts me. That small voice of guilt at his seduction of a woman who just the night before he had loudly proclaimed `a goddess’ tore at his heart.

  So I mated with her. Once. That Other Hahq shrugged. That does not mean I have to marry her.

  Yeva will be hurt when I tell her there is someone else. The light will go out of her eyes when she looks at me. I promised to be her friend. Would a true friend take advantage of her as I did? I led her on to get what I wanted.

  What if a child springs from our mating? A black cloud settled over Hahq’s head at the thought. If Yeva gets with child and I refuse to marry her, I will be doing the same thing Skopasis did to my own mother.