Mira (30 page)

           
Mira nodded.
 
“I guess this means that I’m going back?”
 
Fear and anticipation blended together in a frustrating combination that twisted in her stomach.

           
Lilith started into her eyes as if she was reading the motivations there.
 
“Yes.
 
The elders have decided to send you back.
 
There is some preparation that must be done.
 
Return here at sunset.”

           
Dismissal obvious in Lilith’s voice, Mira walked past the parade of various elders who were entering the stone circle.
 
Each of them eyed her curiously.
 
Sunset seemed to be forever away.
 

* * * *

           
“What have I done?”

           
It took Rillan far too long to realize that Aris left.
 
Barely enough light streamed into the cave mouth to show that day had come.
 
However, it was enough to keep him inside.
 
Roaring with frustration, Rillan turned toward the darkness and stomped back down the hall.
 
There was nothing else he could do about the situation right now.
 
He couldn’t decide if he should go after her come nightfall or if he should notify the elders and wait for their direction.
 

           
She could be anywhere, by the time they get back to me with any kind of decision.
 
I’m not supposed to leave the caves unless under direct order.
 
Rillan wrestled with himself.
 
Play the part of the mindless servant--
Stopping in midstride, Rillan tried to get a hold of himself.
 
He could feel the anger boiling throughout his body.
 
He wanted nothing more than to bring the entire mountain down on himself and
lie
lay
buried for a few centuries.
 
Why shouldn’t I be mindless?
 
Look what I do when I think.
 
Drive them insane, drive them away, kill them, bleed them…
 
Roaring pain and aggravation echoed down the halls and out the cave mouth.

           
Exploding down the hall Rillan began tearing at tapestries.
 
He knocked a number of doors off hinges and burst into his practice room.
 
Wood splintered, metal crashed against walls, fabric ripped and riddled the floor.
 
Centuries of collecting was destroyed in moments.

* * * *

           
The standing stones glistened with the remnants of the afternoon rainfall.
        
Mira stood perfectly still, white shift blowing in the breeze.
 
No one asked if she wanted to change her mind.
 
No one spoke directly to her.
 
She watched with a combination of awe and fear, while the elders finished placing small clay bowls containing mud-like mixtures at the base of each of the nine stones.
 

           
The druids moving amongst the stones sang softly in unison.
 
Mira thought she recognized the words, but somehow they didn’t make sense.
 
Slowly the entire circle began to shift around her.
 
The ground seemed to move.
 
Mira opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t find her voice.
 
No one else appeared to notice.
 
They all went about their tasks with efficiency.
 
Finishing
,
they each turned to face Mira and closed in around her.

           
Mira’s perspective shifted, and she found herself looking down on the ceremony from above.
 
With detached curiosity, she watched the druids remove her shift.
 
Standing naked amongst them, she was suddenly grateful for the strange dizzying sensations.
 
One of the men produced a bowl of the mud colored substance.
 
Each of the druids dipped fingers in the bowl and began drawing runes over Mira’s body.
 

           
Muddy runes covered Mira’s breasts and stomach, ran down her arms and legs, dripped along her back and across her buttocks and thighs.
 
As the druids finished the runes on her body, tiny lights began to blink around the circle.
 
With the song’s crescendo
,
the lights solidified.
 
Tiny fey circled frantically, dipping close to Mira.

           
Distracted by the fey, Mira didn’t notice when all the druids left the circle.
 
As each of the small fey blinked out of sight, Mira found herself standing alone.
 
The muddy runes burned into her skin.
 
Her shift was at her feet, and the moon was nearly at its apex.

           
Confusion coursed through her.
 
Embarrassed by her nakedness, Mira grabbed up her shift and pulled it on.
 
Gauging by the moon, Mira guessed that she had been in the stone circle for hours.
 
I don’t feel any different,
she thought with concern
,
.
 
T
t
hough that was the only truly coherent thought process she could manage.
 

           
Not wanting to return to Liam’s home and having nowhere else in the village to go, Mira’s thoughts turned toward Rillan, the cave, and what she had come to regard as comforting darkness.
 
I’m to go to him.
 
Should I wait for the ceremony?
 
There’s nowhere else to go.
 
I should ask Lilith.

           
Stumbling from the stones, Mira tripped her way down the forest path toward the village.
 
When she finally looked up, she found herself standing outside the gate that surrounded the cave mouth.
 
One of the young women who attended to Lilith stood silently staring at Mira.
 
A ghostly expression fogged her beautiful brown eyes.
 
Trance-like she swung the gate wide.

           
Her actions were almost frightening to Mira.
 
Confused by the strange behavior of the girl at the gate, Mira virtually ran to the cave.
 
Stumbling haphazardly down the hall, Mira tried to call out to Rillan, but her voice continued to fail her.
 

           
Entering the main halls, Mira began to wonder if she was hallucinating in addition to the shifting floors.
 
In the black Mira tripped over tapestries that should have been on the walls, splintered wood that should have been doors, and other piles of things she couldn’t identify.
 
It was getting harder and harder for her to keep her feet.
 
Mira had no idea how long she stumbled about in the dark.
 
If not for how well she knew the halls, Mira figured that she would have been lost to the darkness.

           
Between the effects of the ceremony and the strange piles of rubble in the halls Mira found herself more and more confused.
 
It seemed to take forever, but she managed to find her way to her bedroom door.
 
A sense of comfort and safety flooded her senses, when she moved down the hall to her bed chamber.
 
At least this hall is free of clutter and rubble
.
  
Stubbing her foot on the corner post of her bed, Mira fell onto the soft silken sheets.

           
The last thing she remembered was hearing terrifying shrieking reverberate through the halls.
 
Rillan will protect me,
she thought confidently
,
ignoring the frightening sound, pulling the blankets up around her shoulders, and allowing sleep to take her.

* * * *

           
Waking from a fitful sleep, Rillan found himself sitting in a corner of his bedroom beneath a pile of books.
 
His head throbbed.
 
Vaguely, he remembered having a great deal to drink and then trying to find a solution to his existence in one of the many useless books in his library.
 
There were a few manuscripts sorted apart from the others.
 
After a few moments of gathering his wits, Rillan stood, collected the leather bound texts, and went looking for his bed.
 

           
Rillan stared at the ceiling.
 
He refused to look at the mess he was going to have to clean up.
 
At least fixing the mess should keep my mind off everything that caused the mess in the first place,
he thought with little actual hope.
 
The rising sun peaking at the edge of the open shaft urged Rillan to move.

           
With a heavy sigh, Rillan considered the next thing he should do, as he picked his way through the mess on his floor to the shaft and forced the door shut.
 
At least I didn’t knock this door off its hinges,
he thought.
 
With the shaft covered
,
he began a list in his mind.
  
I’ll write a note to the druids to tell them about Aris.
 
If they don’t already know.
 
Then I’ll get to work putting this disorder right.
 
He laughed sardonically.
 
Maybe I’ll wait for the next sacrifice and have her clean it all up.

           
After a long day of repentant tidying in his bedroom, Rillan wrote a very matter of fact not
e
and sealed it, before leaving his rooms and walking down the halls toward the entrance to leave the note for the druids.
 
At first he couldn’t place what was wrong.
 
There was so much chaos in the hall that he didn’t notice, until he was on his way back to his room.
 
Mira’s rooms.
 
Was I in there?
 
When did I leave the door open?

           
Placing his hand on the door handle
,
he almost pulled the door shut, assuming that he had been the one to leave it open.
 
But he couldn’t remember having gone into her rooms.
 
There was a minute hope in the back of his mind that he refused to admit to.
 
Perhaps I’ve gotten lucky
,
and that girl isn’t gone after all.
 
If I get hold of her and destroy her, then I might not have to admit to the druids what I did,
he thought shamefully.

           
Seeing the lump in the bed dredged up all the anger from the night before.
 
Tears formed in his eyes.
 
He refused to allow himself to think that it might be Mira.
 
That vampire bitch has no right to be in her bed,
Rillan’s thoughts were like acid in his head.
 
Furiously, he threw the blankets back.
 
Standing stunned, he didn’t know how to react at first.

           
Sudden cold woke Mira from her nightmares of fangs and blood.
 
Opening her eyes to blackness, she could imagine Rillan standing over her.
 
I wish I had started a fire,
she thought.
 
Her mind raced with uncertainty.
 
Finally she decided that he had to be there.
 
No other explanation made sense.
 
“Rillan,” she whispered.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
I was the only sacrifice left.”

           
“What?”
 
All Rillan could think was,
she’s back.
 
Why is she back?

           
The annoyed sound of his voice sent a jolt through Mira’s body, and she forgot her fear.
 
Rising to her knees on the bed, she moved toward the sound, reaching out she found the blanket first and took it from his hand.
 
She didn’t know what to say or how to make him understand what she had done and why she was here.
 

           
Rillan reached out and stroked the hair back from her face.
 
“I believe I could be lost in those deep brown eyes.”

           
Mira smiled, feeling his gentle touch and hearing the need in his voice.
 
Placing her hand on the back of his, she closed her eyes and nuzzled her cheek against his palm.
 
“I missed you,” she admitted.

           
“I don’t believe I will ever understand you,” he answered.
 
Leaning down he kissed her forehead, her temple, her cheek, and finally her lips.

           
Passionate fire exploded in Mira’s chest and burned its way throughout her body.
 
Her breathing grew shallow.
 
She was scared to open her eyes, not wanting to find herself dreaming.
 
I can’t believe how much I missed this.