Taking back forever and a day

by Marcy Lynn

  “Derek, before you head home for the night…” Caspin put his arm around Derek’s shoulders, guiding him towards the interior of the village to speak in private. Derek gave her a side long look before letting Caspin lead him. She promptly turned, heading for one of the paths.

  The ball and chain dragged behind her as she limped getting irritated and frustrated by it as well. The fire light had just dimmed before she bent to grab a broken branch, lifting it to wail on the tree that had dropped it.

  Over and over she hit the trunk; draining the energy the old fashion way. She heard a rustle on the path, ready to throw the stick at Derek who she was sure had followed in a rage because she was out of sight. But to her surprise no one stood there.

  “Hello?” Elanor said questioning the air. It thicken suddenly, heavy with a presence she’d felt once before. The rat was nearby.

  “Be gone, I have no want of you near me Ent!” She said to the air.

  “Poor little girl. Lost her life giver. Lost her sister. Lost her way.” A keen pitched hissing voice spoke in her head clearly. In the dark she couldn’t find its form but felt it all around her. “No. No, girl didn’t lost her way.” It taunted cruelly. “Boy took her way. Does girl want revenge? I help her.” The Ent promised in a hiss within her mind. The dark Entity had been drawn to her anger and energy. She could make an offer to the Ent for it’s assistance to leave the island. She didn’t think on it even for a moment. Elanor would never use dark magic or- any type of magic on Derek. Certain she didn’t want any kind of help it had to offer, her head shook as she quickly spoke as best it would within her mind.

  “I don’t want revenge. I only want to leave the Island. Go back to your Master, demon and leave me be.”

  “I has no Master! I is the Master!” It shrieked its rage in her mind. “Stupid girl! Stupid stupid stupid!” The loud noise started to mimic the sound of a rat squeal. It caused a cold knot to form in her stomach; fear tight in her throat. The angry shriek turned to a hissing pleasure. The Ent enjoying the change of her energy; they fed off fear the most. A deep menacing growl came from the path then making her nearly drop to the ground when she thought the rat had taken its true form. King’s form loomed just barely within the light of the fire. His block head high with his pointed ears pinned back.

  It was turned away from her in the direction of the brush. Even without being able to see him clearly, she knew his teeth were bared. He let out another long deep growl with the rustle of the ground near the brush.

  “Stupid girl call beast away.” Elanor could hear its own fear now. The little knowledge she knew of Ents told her why. If a demon died in its trapped body, it ceased to be completely. The energy it possessed would just disappear into the ether. It would be afraid of King and being killed in its rat form.

  She moved towards King, touching his shoulders that trembled with his growls.

  “Stupid girl! Call it!” Another hissing within her mind; shriek sounding from the brush. It prompted King to launch towards the sound. More shrieking rat squeals with dry brush shifting accompanied King’s deep loud barking. He gave chase for a moment before coming back to her side.

  “Good dog.” Elanor pet his head and smoothed down his neck to his shoulders. The short hair there bristled and spiked. She encouraged him to walk with her back towards the fire to wait for Derek now. Both alert to sound and energy around them.

  She doubted that Zo had sent the Ent rat to come after her. It probably couldn’t help but be attracted to her anger and magic. But she couldn’t be absolutely sure of that. For now she’d be wary of both the man and his familiar.

  Chapter twenty

  The table jerked hard.

  The legs scraped against the kitchen floor making her smirk with satisfaction. Elanor leaned back against the matching oak chair, hands placed neatly in her lap while watching the door to the outside being wrenched back and forth. She’d tied a rope to the door handle and its other end to the leg of the oak table. He’d taken a long time to get back to the home and she took advantage.

  He wasn’t getting into the house any time soon.

  Not unless he busted the door down as he’d threaten a few times in the past hour. Or if the rope snapped from the constant pull between the two forces. She might not have chose to use the dark magic, but she had grown tired of trying to talk him into bringing her back to Port NewLlyn. Derek hadn’t even send word to her family! They would be thinking the worst and he had the power to change that. But didn’t and wouldn’t.

  She’d be a nuisance until he relented.

  The table hadn’t moved much with its possible two to three hundred pound anchor of wooden table. The door however, she noted wasn’t holding up so well. The handle had begun to splinter.

  “Open the damn door, Elanor!” He’d stopped pulling to yell again. She leaned her arm on the table, fist to chin. The thought crossed her mind to try the stairs with the ball and chain still attached to her leg to go to bed out of spite. But when she’d tried, it had been painful. The pull on her hip, strained so much, she’d almost fallen down the few steps she had managed.

  Then the idea hit her.

  “Will you yield and send word to my family?”

  “Elanor Tabor, if you do not open this door right now, I swear!” Derek didn’t finish the threat, leaving to her imagination what he swore to do to her. But he knew better than to make a threat. It only enticed her to push it further. After all, what more could he do to her that he hadn’t done already? She hadn’t answered him, not once since he’d started pounding on the door demanding she let him back in. The only guilt she felt wasn’t for barricading Derek out but King would let out a whine or sorrow filled yowl when Derek yelled through the door. It tugged at her heart.

  She wished she’d thought of calling to him before tying the rope to the table. King had been the first to come to the door asking to come in but she’d been afraid Derek was close behind. It had been long agonizing moments of fighting with herself to let him in quickly before Derek came back. Now, he sat on the wrong side of the door as one of the regretted parties, instead of sleeping peacefully as he deserved.

  She felt terrible about King.

  “Elanor, it’s late, I’m tired.”

  But not about Derek.

  “You should have thought of that before making a scene in front of everyone at the fire. You’re not coming in here until you promise.” She finally said. A thud sounded against the door, she could only hope it had been his head rapping against the wood.

  “Why must you always overreact? Hardly calls for you to block the door and have a tantrum over it!” She lifted a pitcher from the table lying on its side from the constant pulling and tugging. It smashed with the force of her throw at the door.

  “You’re insufferable! Promise to send word to my family!”

  “You’re a pain in my ass!”

  “Will you write my father!” She shouted back.

  “Be reasonable, if you can find it within yourself.” His tone irritating, she looked for something else to throw at the door.

  “Well then, once you’ve at least written the letter, I shall be reasonable and let you in!”

  “If you don’t open this door right now, I’m going to go break the side window. And so help me, if I have to replace a window because of your antics, I’m going to take it out on your bottom.” He growled.

  Now that threat she believed.

  Standing, she considered lifting the blade from the counter to cut at the rope. Elanor recalled a time when he’d said those same words “I’m going to take it out on your bottom.” in the past.

  He’d carried out the threat and then some. They’d been no more than fifteen at the time. Before they’d discovered the pleasures of coupling in the barn, they’d learned the fun of challenging each other and showing off what the other couldn‘t do. Derek had scared the daylights out of her by crossing a roof as though on a high wire.

  She’d yelled at him for hours about it after, sc
ared he may have fallen, emotional at the idea of it. He’d said then too she was overreacting; he’d made it just fine across. Elanor had decided to teach him a lesson on how it felt. The next day, she’d waited for the time when he’d be arriving to visit her, getting to the same roof to call down to him. He’d hollered up to her, “Get down this instant Elanor or so help me, I’ll take it out on your bottom!”

  She shook her head at the rope in front of her now as she sawed at its cords, remembering how she’d gotten half way across before the many petticoats she wore got in the way of her seeing her feet. She’d taken a faulty step, losing her balance and nearly falling from the roof. She’d held onto the curve of the roof until he’d gotten up there to help her down. When they’d safely made it to the ground, he’d done as he’d threaten, dragging her into the shed to rip her dress up and give her bottom a soundly smacking as though she were a child.

  Then they’d cried together for a good long time, hugging and kissing while promising to never do things like that again.

  This new edgy possibly pirate Derek could go through with his threat to raise his hand to her. She weighed it in her mind. She didn’t have any other options and she wasn’t going to just give up on doing what was right by her family. His determination would be matched until they came to an agreement or- she found a way to go back herself.

  “Elanor,” He grounded out.

  “Don’t be impatient.” She snapped.

  “She says impatient,” He muttered. “I’ve been standing out here for hours trying to get into my own house and she’s telling me not to be impatient, help me stay sane, King.” She gave a un-lady like snorting noise as the last cord gave way. The two halves dropped, the door relented to Derek’s jerking. She stepped back towards the table, fist to hips.

  “Son of a-” He called stepping into the door frame and promptly cutting his foot on a shard from the pitcher.

  Taking the wisp broom, she began cleaning up the shards, ignoring his glare. She shooed King back, not wanting him to cut his paws.

  “Right… the dog gets a warning but you let me walk right into it!” Derek snapped.

  “You heard it break against the door. You knew it was there.” She said without a bit of guilt in her voice. He swooped down towards her leg suddenly, forcing the key into the lock. With jerking motions, he unlatched the ball and chain from her ankle. As he made to stand, he put his shoulder into her belly causing her to drop the broom.

  “Put me down!”

  “You make me stand outside for hours. You ruin a perfectly good pitcher and rope.” He took the stairs two at a time, opening the bedroom door with enough force to hit the wall and swing back towards them. He tossed her on the bed, shutting the door before King could get through. The dog whined.

  “You’re sleeping down stairs, go!” Derek yelled.

  “Don’t be cruel to him! He’s gotten used to sleeping in here.” She said getting off the bed, intending to open the door for the dog. Derek blocked her way, turning her back towards the bed and giving a push towards it.

  “Not tonight he won’t be.” He didn’t give her a chance to turn around again; pushing her down on the bed. The line of her back touched his chest when he pressed down on her from behind.

  “Don’t you dare!” She gave a furious warning when his hand slid up her thigh in a rough fashion to rip her dress over her bottom.

  “I dare and then some my darling girl.” His fingers gripped around the bone of her hip, pinning her in place. His free hand hovered over her backside. Her own fingers suddenly gripped the bed sheet.

  “Stop.”

  “You try my patience Ela, you really do!”

  “Stop it Derek! I’m not a child to be corrected! Certainly not by you.”

  “Why must you be so, Elanor? Why?” His fist bounced against the bed in a frustrated strike before he lay heavily on his back. She pulled the fabric back down to cover.

  “Why must I be? What of you? You purposely picked a fight with me tonight. And you won’t even consider sending any word to my family. Not a word.” Elanor frowned deeper at the soft hint of hurt in her voice. She couldn’t hide it and that made it all worse. He shifted on the bed pulling closer to her. She tried to shrug him off.

  “I am sorry for picking a fight with you.” Purposely she realized, he apologized for the fight, not the rest. She twisted so her head moved from his lips, pressing her face into the bed.

  “Only because you think it will somehow win you favor and gain you something you will not get.” Elanor said into the sheets.

  “No, you’re wrong.’ He said after using her hair to turn her head back with a tug. “I say so because I regret allowing my frustrations to embarrass you.”

  Elanor felt his hand then brush against her bare arm.

  “Can you find it in you to forgive me?”

  “Will you promise to contact my Father? To at least tell them I’m not a hostage or worse? Please. I can’t bare to think about them suffering one more loss, Derek.” She closed her eyes unable to bear the anguish that threaten to leave her bereft and desolate. If he said no, she didn’t think she’d be able to carry on any longer like this. “I will concede and promise…”

  He didn’t speak for a long time. The stillness of the room held her immobile waiting in the density of the air barely passing through her lips.

  “I will send Steppe with the letter to your father tomorrow.” His body shifted towards her warm against her back. “I am sorry for the argument.” Her muscles slowly relaxed. At least they wouldn’t worry. She would have to figure out how to get to Istland before the volcano erupted another way.

  Another truce made.

  A long keening howl sounded on the other side of the bedroom door.

  “Spoiled rotten mutt.” Derek growled.

  “Don’t be cruel… he’s used to being in here with us.” She chided softly.

  “Get down stairs, go.” Derek called towards the closed door. King gave another round of low keen whines, sniffing the door. Elanor pulled away from him to slide off the bed.

  “He needs to know who is the master around here.” Derek said, his double meaning prompting Elanor to cross the bedroom to open the door.

  “I am teaching him,” She said smartly. “who the master is around here.”

  “Cheeky.” Derek pushed the sheets back, getting into bed. Elanor slid between the sheets. She turned on her side. He curled against her back, wrapping his arm around her waist.

  “Do you forgive me?” He prompted.

  “For being surly, I can.” She couldn’t fault him for being angry that she’d jilted him. She could for purposely embarrassing her though.

  “I told you before we came here, I don’t have any plans of sending you back.” His sigh long, blowing the loose hair on her pillow. “We made a truce, with that knowledge before. I hope we can keep it- and the new one.”

  King jumped up on the bed, seeing there was no divide there for him, he lay directly on the top of them both.

  “Well it is his spot.” Elanor groaned. She felt Derek push the hulking dog down the bed at their feet.

  “No, that’s his spot.”

  She let out a soft giggle when King waited only a few minutes and then tried to sneak back up. Derek couldn’t resist laughing either; she felt the rumble of it against her back with the weight of the dog pressing them together again. The tension of the night had finally slipped out of her body, letting her relax and drift towards sleep. The ease of knowing that her family would soon know she was safe brought a restful peace to her slumber.

  ***

  Derek had tasted the sweet fruit of the gods once upon a time; leaving him to be a starved man since Elanor left his life. She lay so close next to now that when in the haze of sleep he almost thought time hadn’t passed and life hadn’t changed. Her dress stretched over her body, highlighting and shadowing the curves so beautifully in the sea moonlight coming through the windows.

  The tips of his fingers brushed daringl
y down the center of the valley of breasts until it met the collar of the night dress.

  His breath caught waiting. He dared further when she didn’t stir. He could barely contain the raw desire that began to burn. It blazed when the tips of his fingers pressed the collar down to reveal her nipple. Instantly his desire grew to unimaginable aches. A vision of the beach coached his hand to lightly trace the pert top of her breast. He drew in a sharp breath when she finally did move, not away but into his touch. She’d turned her body so that the night dress wouldn’t hinder his hand, arching against him. His palm now covered the top of her breast, the nipple pursed into a hard nub. Air passed through her lips in a sweet little sigh.

  It had been so long since he’d been inside her and that‘s all he thought about. All he needed to be complete again. All it would take for her eyes to be open to what they had lost. He thought he’d burst right there when her right leg slid up against his erection in sleepy recognition.

  Her legs now lazily parted open, he knew that invitation from the past, dreamed of it during the nights she‘d been away from him.

  Derek moved his hand from her breast, down across the short distance of her belly, towards the shadowed depths of what was barely covered under the vest.

  He was being daring. Playing with fire.

  She could wake any moment and change her mind from wiggling so warmly into his arms right now. Derek weighed the pain of wanting her to being denied again by her. And Elanor didn’t help arching in her sleep like that, urging him on just like she used to do. He closed his eyes, fighting to keep control of his desires, throbbing. They were united as man and woman. The ritual of their handfasting had been preformed. It wasn’t the same kind of recongition as a lawful marriage. As a man he could take from his wife because that was expected. In the old ways she followed, a sense of exchange of both or one or the other could end the union. So as hungry for her as he was, he wouldn’t take anything as he was legally able to in law. They had, after all, just made the newest and most important truce between them.