Mira (20 page)

           
Devastated, he slunk from the tunnels and walked out the hole in the wall he created.
 
He stared weakly at the destructive mess he and his brother made of the tomb.
 
Something in him didn’t care any longer.
 

           
Completely forgetting the original reason she left her rooms, Mira sat down on her bed.
 
Tears rolled over her cheeks.
 
She couldn’t decide if she was proud of herself for staying or if she thought that she was stupid.
 
I couldn’t do that to Rillan
.
 
I just couldn’t.
 
I’ll keep my word.
 
She lay down on her bed crying.
 
Why didn’t I ever realize that about Liam before?

           
Rillan sneered.
 
Visions ran through his mind of ripping the man’s tongue out and using it to write a bloody warning on the wall for all other would be rescuers.
 
Instead Rillan allowed the broken man to leave.
 
More than anything, he envied the life that the man was able to offer Mira.
She should have gone with him.

           
Walking through the gloom of the tunnels toward his rooms, Rillan considered the things that Mira’s suitor said.
 
I don’t know whether I’m happy about becoming unnecessary or not.
 
I can’t believe she chose to stay.

           
Upon entering his rooms, he went straight to his bed and
lie
la
y
down.
 
Rillan didn’t bother removing clothing, he was too exhausted.
 
Closing his eyes, all he could see were visions of his past and speculation on the future.
 
The worst of the visions were the ones involving Mira and what he was doing to her.

           
Standing over Mira’s bed Rillan stared down at her withered naked body.
 
He parted her legs and stepped up to her.
 
Claws dug into her hips as he gripped her and thrust deeply into her.
 
Drops of blood formed at his fingertip as he fucked her lifeless form.
 
She barely managed to squeak out a soft protest.
 
Her body was too far gone to handle much more.
 

           
As Rillan plunged into her tiny frame he watched her body disintegrating in his hands, her pale skin graying and turning to dust.
 
She lay there beneath him moaning softly with his movements, loving him through the pain and death.

           
A soft breeze filtered through the room from the shaft and slowly skimmed the layer of dust that was her skin.
 
Horror sifted through Rillan’s body as Mira’s body eroded before his eyes and was gone, leaving a gray silt to cover everything in the room.
 

           
Sitting bolt upright in bed Rillan took a moment to register the feelings that were surging through him.
 
It had been at least a century since the last time he felt fear, dread, or guilt.

           
Rillan stood and began pacing, the cold sweat on his clammy skin drying with the movement.
 
What am I supposed to do?
 
I’ve spent the whole of my life as a martyr.
 
Why the hell should I do it again?
 
Haven’t I earned some happiness after all I’ve done?

           
A vision of Arial crumpled against the wall of that dirty room in Noviodunum propelled him to his desk.
 
Spreading parchment out in front of him and putting pen to the paper he wrote out instructions for the elders, in detail, berating them for the poor preparation of the girls who had been sent to him over the years.
 

           
I hope that this seems a viable reason to send her back to them.
 
A teary glaze coated his eyes, but he blinked it away and sealed the letter in an envelope.
 
Forcing himself to action before his resolve broke, he charged down the hall toward Mira’s room.

           
Mira woke to noisy shuffling about her room.
 
Sudden fear shot through her.
 
Either Rillan is home or Liam has returned.
 
The fool is persistent enough.

           
“Get up,” Rillan growled.
 
“I know you’re awake.”

           
Relief flooded Mira’s body, once she heard what sounded to be the normal abrasive Rillan
  
“I’m sorry.
 
I didn’t realize you were home.”

           
“Just get up,” he responded and grabbed her arm, dragging her to a standing position.
 
Then he shoved a bag into her hands.

           
“What’s this?”
 
Mira opened the large bag and looked in.
 

           
“The things you can take with you,” he said angrily.

           
“I don’t understand.”
 

           
“You’re leaving.
 
Come with me.”

           
“What do you mean?”
 
By the Fates, I hope he didn’t find out about Liam.

           
 
“I’m done with you.
 
I have a letter for the elders.
 
You’re returning to the village.
 
Deliver it,” Rillan said shortly.
 
He was afraid he may break down and cry.
 
He didn’t want her to attempt to stay behind.
 
I had to fall in love with her.

           
Mira stared at him in shock and dismay.
 
“Did I do something wrong?”

           
The pitiful tone in her voice almost broke his resolve.
 
“Be glad that I’m not draining you dry and leaving you for dead.
 
I need someone younger.
 
You’re more work than I care to deal with girl.”

           
A knot began to form in her stomach.
 
“What’s wrong?
 
Are you hungry?”
 
Assuming that his strange behavior had to do with his assignment, Mira began to undress.

           
Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to go through with forcing her out if he made love to her, or even touched her again, Rillan grabbed Mira by the arm and began to pull her bodily from the room, before she could get out of any of her clothes.
 
“I told you that I’m done with you,” he spat at her.
 
“Have them send someone else.
 
That’s all
.
”

           
“You’re hurting,” Mira whimpered as she tried to pry his hand off her arm.
 
“You’re not making sense.”

           
He dragged her, amidst numerous protests to the cave mouth.
 
“You have a new purpose Mira.
 
Correct your elder’s teachings.
 
I expect the girls sent to me in future to be better prepared for what they will face at my hands. You return here, I’ll kill you,” was the last thing he said to her, before leaving her confused and bruised form on the ground at the cave mouth.

           
Letter in hand
,
Mira watched Rillan disappear into the bleak darkness that was his home.
 
Soft blue light kissed the sky above the trees.
 
Dawn
.
 
Near awe, Mira watched the sky slowly lighten, no cave walls, no cave ceiling separating her from the sight.
 
The tears in her eyes took on a new meaning, as she felt more than watched the morning creep into the clearing around her.
 
Creaking of the rusted iron gate drew her attention from the beauty of the coming morning.

           
Mira looked toward the gate to see a young girl staring at her, mouth agape, wide-eyed.
 
When she saw Mira turn toward her, she flinched, dropped the armful of supplies she held, then turned and ran back out the gate.
 

           
“I wonder how I would have reacted if I had found one of the sacrifices outside the cave when I was a novice,” Mira asked herself.
 
Standing, Mira brushed herself off turning toward the darkness in the cave.
 
Tears started again, she felt as though her heart had been ripped out.
 
I wonder what I did wrong. This can’t be right.
 
He’ll come back.
 
He needs me.

 
          
Clutching the letter in one hand, Mira stood at the cave mouth waiting.
 
She wasn’t sure how long she had been there, when a hand on her shoulder drew her attention.
 
Dazed, Mira turned to see an elderly woman’s kind eyes bearing down on her.
 
Nothing seemed to be making sense.
 
Somewhere in the back of her mind Mira recognized the woman as Lilith.
 
She was the oldest of the elders and a kind soul.
 

           
First Liam breaks into the tombs, and then Rillan throws me out.
 
The sacrifices don’t work like this.
 
Mira was tired.
 
She didn’t know what to think about any of it.
 
Slowly she lifted the paper up for Lilith to take.
 
Rillan hadn’t said who to give it to, but Lilith seemed to be an intelligent option.

           
Taking the letter from Mira, Lilith ran concerned eyes over Mira.
 
She had the look of all the sacrifices, withered and pale.
 
Dark circles sharply contrasted her pallor, around sunken eyes that were far too bright with understanding things no one should ever have to know.
 

           
Lilith unceremoniously broke the seal on the letter and unfolded the parchment.
 
She read slowly and carefully, seeing more in Rillan’s writing than he truly intended to be understood about his motivations for sending Mira back to them.
 

           
Clearing her voice, Lilith refolded the paper and looked sympathetically to Mira.
 
“So it seems you are to be our new teacher, in the wake of our inadequacies in dealing with our guardian.”

           
“I guess,” Mira responded meekly, a small quake in her voice.
 
Tears still wet on her face, Mira looked back to the darkness of the cave, but Rillan was gone.
 
Strange that the darkness should almost seem more welcoming than the light and the pitying stares
, she thought bitterly.

           
Nodding
,
Lilith turned to a couple of the young onlookers and gave instructions that didn’t quite register in Mira’s mind.
 
She gazed longingly into the cave mouth, wishing Rillan would change his mind and come back for her.
 
Finally she allowed herself to be guided away from the cave and taken to the village.

           
By the time they reached the round houses, people had gathered to see the living sacrifice.
 
No one ever walked out of that cave alive, and there was concern that something was wrong.
 
Wild speculation whispered from one ear to the next.

           
“Maybe she ran away.”

           
“Well if she did, does that mean he’ll come out here hunting her down?”

           
“Do you think we’re in danger?”
           
“No one could run away from that.
 
She must have done something to anger him, and he got rid of her.”

           
“No.
 
He would have killed her.”

           
“Well there’s no way he would have let her leave.”

           
“She doesn’t even look happy to have survived.”

           
“She looks like walking death.”

           
“I wonder what it was like in there.”

           
“Judging from her appearance, there’s no way it could have been good.”

           
“What do you think we’re going to do now?
 
Send another sacrifice?”

           
“Lilith will know.”

           
“She always knows.”
           
“I thought we were getting rid of him anyway.”

           
“Don’t believe all the rumors.”