by P. C. Cast
Too soon she paused her exploration, though the flush of her face and the deepening of her breath told him she had enjoyed herself as surely as her words did. “I like the way you taste,” she said.
He smiled, glad that he had tempered his desire with patience. “And that, my Goddess, pleases me.”
“Would you take me out in your boat?”
“It would be my pleasure, but it isn’t my boat. It is yours.”
“Kalona, sometimes you say exactly the right thing.”
He snorted as they drifted slowly to ground. “Sometimes, but not often.”
“I think you’re getting better at it,” she said.
“I could not get much worse.” Taking her hand, he helped her into the boat. “I-I made a mess of the Air test,” he said, pushing the craft out into the water before he got in with her. When she didn’t answer him, he made himself keep busy with the wooden paddle, steering the boat out onto the glasslike surface of the lake.
When he finally looked at her, Nyx was watching him, her expression unreadable.
“You are still angry with me?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I was never angry with you. I was sad and disappointed.”
“Knowing I have caused you sadness wounds me,” he said. “I will do better with the next test. I vow it.”
“It wasn’t the test that made me sad. It wasn’t the test that disappointed me.”
“What then?”
“You were cruel to Erebus. He did not deserve that.”
Kalona almost snapped the paddle in two. Unable to contain his jealousy, he blurted, “You do not prefer him!”
“Kalona, you both were created for me. You both have a purpose and a place at my side. If you do not want to sadden or disappoint me, you will not harbor enmity for your brother.”
Kalona struggled to control his inner turmoil. He wanted to cry out, to tell her that he couldn’t bear to share her, couldn’t bear to think of her covering Erebus’s face with joyous kisses, or exploring the taste of his lips.
“I vow that I have love enough within me for the both of you,” she said, moving forward so that she could press the palm of her hand over his heart. “Trust me, Kalona. I will never break a vow.” Then she kissed him and Kalona could think of nothing but the scent of her skin and the wonder of her touch.
The waters around them exploded with trilling Fey. They leaped over and around the boat in agitation, calling frantically to Nyx.
“Yes, yes, I understand you. I know the place. I will come. I will come.” The Goddess told the creatures, and with satisfied chirps, they disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Nyx sighed and wiped water from her face and his, smiling apologetically at him.
“Let me guess,” Kalona said. “Erebus is ready for his test.”
“You are correct,” she said. “May we continue what we began later?”
“Yes, of course,” he said, turning the boat toward shore, hiding his hurt and frustration from her.
He helped her from the boat, pulling it well up onto the rocky shore. He was silent, already anticipating the joy Nyx would feel at whatever magnificent show Erebus had concocted for her this time, when the Goddess circled him with her arms from behind, pressing her cheek against his bare back and nuzzling his silver wings.
“I wish you would choose happiness. There is such wondrous happiness between us—enough to last an eternity,” she said.
He pressed his arms over hers, loving the feel of her warmth against the moonlit coolness of his skin. He drew a deep breath, and with it made a conscious effort to release his frustration.
Kalona could feel her smile. “There! That’s better,” she said, and kissed first the middle of his back, and then each of his wings. He thought she would release him then, though he remained very still, hoping to gain even one more small moment with her. She took her arms from around him, but she remained close. He sensed her hesitation, and then she stroked each of his wings gently. “They are so beautiful. I could look at them forever and still find different colors within them. Did you know that they’re not really white?”
“They are behind me, thus difficult for me to see.” His smile was reflected in his voice.
“They are like moonlight, of course, but this close their color reminds me of pearls. So beautiful…” she repeated, stroking them.
Kalona turned and caught her in his arms. “That you can find such beauty in me is a special kind of magick.”
“All is well between us,” she said, staring into his eyes searchingly. “Please know that. Your place in my heart cannot be filled by any other being in this realm or the Otherworld.”
Kalona kissed her gently. “Tell me, Goddess, where shall I take you?”
“To the east, and then a little north. If I understood the naiads correctly, which sometimes takes some doing, Erebus has chosen a fragrant spot for the site of his next test.”
Kalona couldn’t help grumbling. “What is he going to do? Water a field of flowers for you?”
Nyx laughed and twined her arms around his neck. “That isn’t exactly the fragrance I recall from this place, so creating flowers there would, truly, be an exceptional thing.”
Kalona took to the air with his Goddess in his embrace, dreading what was to come.
7.
YOUR BROTHERHOOD PLEASES ME MORE THAN ANY TEST EVER COULD …
“Argh! It is putrid!” Kalona’s nose was wrinkled in disgust. “I will not take you closer to that mud and mess.”
“Nyx, there you are! It is lovely to see you.” Mother Earth embraced her.
“It is a pleasure to see you, as well.” Nyx returned her embrace, and then smiled at the dancing dryads that had taken to following the Great Mother everywhere. “If ever I wonder where they have gotten off to, I know all I need do is find you, and there the Fey will be.”
Mother Earth’s gaze went to Kalona. “And if ever I wonder where you have gotten off to, I know all I need do is find Kalona, and there Nyx will be.”
Kalona bowed his head slightly but respectfully to her. “I greet you, Earth Mother.”
“I greet you as well,” she said. “Whenever you are ready, you may begin your test. I do hope it turns out better than your last one.”
“I am ready, but—”
“But it is me who has summoned you here! There is no need for you to move from this spot. From here you will have a perfect view.” Erebus dropped down from the sky above them, glistening as golden as the midday sun. “Mother Earth, your beauty outshines the majesty of the pine trees,” he said with a flourish and a bow.
“So charming and handsome.” Mother Earth smiled fondly at him.
Then he turned to Nyx, and from behind his back he produced a single length of a fragrant herb, topped with a brilliant purple flower. Moving to her, he smiled and said, “Hello, my Goddess. This plant reminded me of the scent of your skin. I hope my creation pleases you as much as it does me.” Erebus tucked the sprig in her hair behind her ear.
Nyx smiled. “Lavender! You are right, Erebus. I do so love its delicate fragrance. I often rub it on my wrists. Thank you.”
“You should have brought enough for all of us so that we could stand the stench of this place,” Kalona said gruffly.
“Brother, I have actually missed your scowling face, but probably only because it bears such a resemblance to my own!” He clapped Kalona on the shoulder.
Nyx thought Kalona’s face looked like a thundercloud ready to explode all over his brother.
“There is nothing wrong with the scent of this place,” Mother Earth said sternly. “It comes from the mixing of heat and minerals that rest just below ground. During the winter, many animals come here and take comfort in the warmth it provides. They do not complain of the smell, and neither would you, Kalona, were you to freeze to death otherwise.”
“I am an immortal. We never die,” Kalona told her placidly.
“Indeed?” Mother Earth replied. “Never is a very long time.”<
br />
“Then let us waste not another moment of it,” Nyx said. “Erebus, what is it you have created for me with Water and magick?”
“Hopefully, something that pleases you greatly.” With two beats of his great golden wings, Erebus took to the air, hovering above them, near the lip of the basin that held mud and fetid escaping vapor.
Mud and heat from earth below,
Mix with magick to begin my show!
Erebus plucked a small golden feather from his unfurled wings, held it up to his lips, and blew on it. His breath, mixed with magick, carried the feather slowly, surely, down to the mud and mess below. The instant it touched the earth, there was a whoosh that reminded Nyx of how spring rains sounded against a forest canopy, and mist lifted from the mud, carrying the golden feather with it. As sunlight touched the feather, the gold in it expanded, glistened, and changed so that the mud was now covered with mist that held within it all the colors of the rainbow.
“It is not different than what he did before,” Kalona muttered.
“Sssh,” Nyx whispered to him. “His test isn’t completed.”
Erebus plucked another feather from his wing. This one was a long, golden pinion. Holding it like a spear, he spoke:
With borrowed creation, and my own magick, ancient, Divine,
I call to Water, an invocation to join this test of mine.
Come forth, geyser, rich and radiant in released power anew.
With your might show Nyx that I will ever be faithful and true!
Erebus threw the long, golden feather. As if shot from a bow, it sailed in a beautiful arc up and then down, down, to land, sticking its quill into the mud. For a moment nothing happened. Then, just as she was beginning to feel pity for poor Erebus and his failed creation, the earth beneath the feather began to growl and with the sound of waves breaking against a rocky shoreline, the feather was lifted up by a column of water that sprayed high, straight, and strong into the air.
Nyx clapped with pleasure as the geyser continued to spew water and steam through the misty rainbow into the clear blue sky, so high that Nyx would have had no trouble seeing it from the Otherworld. “That’s wonderful, Erebus!”
“A powerful and beautiful creation, indeed,” Mother Earth agreed.
Erebus landed before Nyx, grinning like a boy. “And that’s not even the best part of it. It will never stop erupting—eternally it will geyser in remembrance of you. Thus I have named it Old Faithful. No matter how long eternity lasts, like this geyser, I will always be your faithful playmate and friend, my Goddess.”
“Thank you, Erebus,” Nyx said, hugging him. “Your creation has pleased me. You easily passed this test.”
Still grinning, Erebus nodded at Kalona. “Your turn, brother.”
“Then follow me, and prepare to be impressed!” Before Erebus could protest, Kalona had scooped Nyx into his arms and leaped skyward, rocketing into the west. She peered over his broad shoulder to see Erebus following, with Mother Earth, who was clinging to him, but was also laughing uproariously.
“The Fey are going to have to scurry to catch up with us,” she said.
“Yes, and I was hoping so would Erebus, laden with Mother Earth.”
“Be kind,” she said, but tempered her disapproval by resting her head familiarly on his strong shoulder.
“She dislikes me.”
“Be kinder. You always seem so defensive around her.”
“Her gaze makes me uncomfortable,” he said.
“And still my advice remains the same. Be kind—to Mother Earth, to Erebus, to the mortals that inhabit this realm, and, most important, be kind to yourself.”
“You did not mention that I should be kind to you,” he said.
Nyx stroked his cheek. “I did not think I needed to.” She laid her head against his shoulder again and relaxed into his embrace, hoping silently that the outcome of this test would be very different from the last.
* * *
Kalona descended onto a verdant forest filled with the vibrant green of ancient trees. Boulders formed lovely little gorges, and the entire landscape was carpeted with ferns and moss. He came to ground, landing on a group of the largest of the mossy boulders, and gently released her. Before Erebus and Mother Earth had joined them, he kissed her quickly but thoroughly, and said, “Gaze upward.” Then he leaped off the boulder, his great wings carrying him aloft so that soon he disappeared into the canopy of green.
Erebus and Mother Earth arrived soon after, and not long after that, a few of the dryads materialized, chattering their displeasure at having been left behind.
“Where is he?” Mother Earth asked.
Nyx pointed upward. “He said to gaze there.”
“It is nothing but the side of a hill, littered with steep rocks, moss, and ferns. There aren’t even any deer trails leading up there. It is too rocky, too slick,” Mother Earth said, gazing upward.
“I wonder what my brother intends,” Erebus said.
Nyx smiled at him, noting that he seemed only curious and not envious at all. She linked her arm through his. “You are not mean-spirited at all.”
Erebus’s smile was sunshine bright. “Why would I waste my time being mean-spirited when being delighted and joyful is so much more fun?”
“An excellent question, young Erebus,” Mother Earth said, looking steadily at Nyx. “A wise Goddess would wonder why anyone would choose to be mean-spirited over joyful.”
Troubled, Nyx did not meet Mother Earth’s gaze. Instead she looked upward, seeking a glimpse of moonlight wings. She was rewarded by his silhouette, dark against the greenery. He was standing on the top ledge of the steep, rocky cliff. Below him, yet still above where Nyx and the rest of them stood, there was a lip of moss-covered rock that formed a basinlike ledge before the boulders opened and dropped down to the forest below.
Kalona raised one arm over his head, hand extended and open, and his voice echoed powerfully against the rocks.
With her beauty she has captured me,
Speared through heart and soul I shall always be.
The mortal realm should rejoice that she is true.
Forsaking her vow is something Nyx will never do.
So come to me ancient magick divine.
Take form in a weapon destined to be mine!
The air above Kalona seemed to shiver, and a long, onyx spear suddenly materialized. Kalona grasped it and commanded:
Water, heed the creation gift within my call.
Mirror her most favored headdress in a crystal, glistening fall!
Kalona drove the spear into the boulders at his feet, and water, answering his call, gushed up from within the break in the rock, cascading over the ledge in an ever-increasing powerful spill that widened, sparkling crystal and white, falling into the basin below in perfect mimicry of the glistening headdress of stars that decorated Nyx’s hair.
Nyx gasped in pleasure, clapping and laughing. Kalona dropped forward over the ledge to swoop down to her, catching her as she flung herself into his arms.
“Mother Earth! Kalona has re-created your gift that I love so dearly,” Nyx said, grinning at her friend when her feet were once more on the ground.
Mother Earth’s smile was guarded but genuine. “He has indeed. Well done, Kalona. This does decorate my forest wonderfully, and it will always remind me of the fondness I have for our faithful Goddess.”
The dryads trilled in agreement, dancing around the mossy boulders.
Erebus approached Kalona, extending his hand. “It is a thing of beauty, worthy of our Goddess.”
Kalona hesitated only a moment. Then he grasped Erebus’s hand. Smiling wryly, he said, “Thank you, brother. And this thing of beauty does not stink.”
Erebus threw back his head and laughed. “You win today, brother! And I freely admit it pleases me. You should show your sense of humor more often. I like this Kalona more than the dour, scowling one.”
Nyx went to them, and over their clasped hands, she placed her own. �
��Your brotherhood pleases me more than any test ever could. It is as if Water has filled me to overflowing with joy!”
Joining them, Mother Earth said, “And this is what I intended when I set you to these tests. I wanted only to be sure that worthy companions had been created for our Goddess. I am well pleased today, too. Tell me, Kalona and Erebus, what element will you choose for your final test?”
Nyx nodded to Erebus. “As Kalona chose Water, this next choice is yours.”
“If my brother is in agreement, I defer my choice and ask that you decide for me instead.”
“I am in agreement with my brother,” Kalona said.
Nyx’s smile was radiant. “Then I choose Spirit as the element for your final test.”
“Very well, then. Until you each call into being your creation, I grant you dominion over Spirit. So I have spoken; so mote it be,” said Mother Earth.
“And now I must leave you,” Erebus said.
“Leave me?” Nyx smiled questioningly at him.
“Oh, only for now. I do believe the Great Mother and I need to return to Old Faithful,” Erebus said, glancing from Kalona to Nyx, and then sending Mother Earth a pointed look. “We seem to be missing several of the Fey. I think they must still be at the geyser. You know how distracted they can be by sparkling colors.”
“We should go collect them, poor dears,” Mother Earth readily agreed with him. As Erebus lifted her carefully into his arms, she called, “Come, dryads, let us go back and find your sisters.”
Before he leaped skyward, Nyx touched Erebus’s arm. “Thank you. You are precious to me.”
“As you are to me, my Goddess,” he said. “Good-bye, brother. If you need help with your next test you can find me by following the rising sun.” The chattering dryads in tow, Erebus took to the sky, leaving Kalona and Nyx completely alone.