The High King: A Tale of Alus (11 page)

"She has been taken to the main house. She has to sleep there rather than with the other slave women now."

"So she is the reason that you would not make love to me that day?" Catiya asked and turned back with pouting lips. Suddenly she broke into a smile and sighed, "Ah, well. So who is this woman that has stolen my friend's heart so fully? Perhaps I can even find a way to get you back together."

"I am surprised that you are so willing to give me back to her, since she is the only one keeping us separated," he said still looking to see if the young woman was telling the truth, "that and my current status of being your father’s slave, of course."

The girl stood from her seat. Catiya strolled slowly over and took a seat on his lap. Lightly, she brushed her lips in a kiss upon his cheek. He was used to her flirting ways by now. Not passing that unspoken line was one of the qualities that she was most consistent with during the past months, however. But the girl was good at it, as a number of trips to the cold water hole at the farm proved her charms. "By those words, I take heart that you must love me almost as much as this other woman?" She did not wait for an answer. Neither of them needed his words to know that it was true and the young woman's face seemed to brighten even more as the knowledge of that fact came to them both strongly. "Well this is why I must help you, my friend, since I also love you. You are also my best friend, and as such I would hate to have to try and replace you. If keeping you as a friend means giving you to another woman, then I guess that is how it must be.

"Besides if I get tired of waiting for you, I can find a way to send her away," she stated seriously. At his horrified look, she was forced to giggle, "I am only kidding. Please, calm down. I was just trying to make a joke. Now tell me who she is, so that I can try to find a way to help you."

Looking at the woman warily after her joke, Gerid stated quietly, "Tabitha, she has become one of your sister's new handmaidens."

Leaning her arm upon his shoulder and bracing her chin on her hand, she mused aloud, "I haven't met her as yet, though I do tend to try and avoid my sister and her maids as much as possible. I do know where they usually sleep though. In fact, the rooms are only a few doors away from my own." She hummed thoughtfully, "Maybe that is how I can get you both back together. I can leave my balcony doors open with a rope for you to climb up. The girl can simply sneak into my room to meet you." She jumped up smiling and clapped her hands happily. "Yes, that is how we will do it. I am sure that it will work. Oh, this will be the most fun that I have had since that day I tried to seduce you!"

Gerid simply shook his head in amusement. Catiya's immaturity came out at the oddest times. The girl was sheltered by her parents and seemed to almost relish it at times, though she was also old enough to be less so. The man also considered her earlier question of who separated them and knew that, if he had known her first, Gerid would never have had the strength to resist her tempting advances by now. Catiya was a beautiful young woman, as much as he loved and adored Tabitha, it was still true. It was a problem he saw in himself, but couldn’t completely overcome that knowledge.

"Yes, I've got it," she declared with a decisive nod of her head drawing his attention from his own thoughts. "You will come to my room around the mid of night when Epsilon is leaving the sky and Turas begins to wane. It should leave you enough light to find your way without being so bright as to let others see you. I'll go find my sister's maidens and let Tabitha know of our plans."

Filled with the exuberance from her plans, Catiya swung away quickly towards the main house with a wave to Gerid leaving him to watch her go. The man just shook his head at the whimsical girl and returned to watching the flock. Thoughts of what he would need to do tonight slipped in and out of his mind as the boredom of watching the animals down below left him time to think.

Krulir sat upon his mount atop a hill overlooking a plain filled with smoke and piles of slain men. In front of him were three of Marshalla's five generals, and with them King Merrick, whose eyes sparkled with the vision of Caldor's men fleeing before Kar'esh and the Mar'goyn'lya. They could already see the object of their lord's desires standing pristinely against the dark haze of the smoke. A small hill on the far side of the battlefield was all that separated them from the full view of the capitol city of Caldor called Teleste.

Three winged forms lifted determinedly from the mass of Marshalla's warriors below them. Kar'esh and his two guardsmen landed before the assembled leaders shortly afterward and nodded their bows of allegiance to Merrick. "My liege, the Caldorians flee before us now. Should we pursue them or regroup first?"

The generals all looked to Merrick. Krulir could see each man's eyes showing their decisions, but knowing better than to speak before Merrick asked for their input so each held his tongue. A general had already made such a mistake earlier in the campaign not more than a week ago. Merrick had the man's tongue cut off and then placed him at the very front of the lines in the next battle. The man had been left where he had died and no one was allowed to bury him. The crows could have him for all the lord cared. His replacement, General Mairgar, sat his mount equally silent before the vizier knowing the consequences of such a mistake as well.

Merrick shook his head in decision. His bronze helmet and chest plate glinted in the hazy sun light as he said, "We regroup first. Let the enemy gather any man daft enough to stand against us. There are few enough that will dare to after this battle anyway. No, for now, let us set up camp upon the surrounding hills outside of Teleste. Generals Bragus and Komus should arrive here with the siege weapons this evening. We can let the city awaken to the knowledge that we will crush their walls in the morning."

Kar'esh nodded. "Yes, my liege." The huge, gray skinned gargoyle was the only one capable of answering unbidden. Even Krulir, who had known the king as child, dared Merrick's temper rarely. The creatures quickly leapt away and took to the air to spread the word to the army below.

Krulir marveled at the gargoyles. He still distrusted them though they had honored their word so far. In battle, they had been unstoppable. Fewer than a dozen of the Mar'goyn'lya had fallen in the campaign and they had been replaced with another score brought from the wizards' gate. The legions had done well also and had suffered only minimal losses as the simple presence of the gargoyles served to bolster them while the enemy faltered demoralized in the face of such demons.

The war had lasted less than two weeks, and only that long because it took time to march so far with an army. Teleste would certainly fall in only a matter of days now. Who could stand against such forces for long? The vizier thought about that fact and wondered whether he was joyous or sad.

The clean, painted walls of the Holtein home reflected crimson against the dark purple of the night sky. Looking upwards, Gerid found the scarlet orb of the war god, Turas. The moon seemed to stare down at him watching his every move. As he found the rope that had been dutifully left for him by Catiya, Gerid began climbing. The man hoped that the god would ask his wife, the goddess Danaer, whose brilliant star was
encountered by Turas each night, to give him her blessing.

Quickly and with little effort, the young man pulled himself up and over the terrace railing and stood upon the teak wood surface. The intruder stood listening quietly for signs that he had been noticed. Though it was quite dark, Gerid ventured to take a look at the view afforded him from Catiya's lookout. The glimmerings of the blue stars of the dream goddess, Matae, were noticed peeking just above the dark shadow of a cedoak tree only a hundred feet from the terrace. The four stars were said to form a cross in the heavens, but Gerid's imagination had yet to see them as more than a clump in the night sky. Perhaps the dream goddess only showed the cross to true visionaries, he mused.

"Pausing to sight see, Gerid? I thought that you were desperate to meet this girl, Tabitha," Catiya's voice teased from behind him.

Gerid turned to find the young woman clad in only a brief robe of silk. The thin material glistened with the bloody light of the middle moon. The length of the garment was much too short as if it were actually made more for a child, rather than the young woman before him. Her breasts seemed to strain against the material trying to win their way free from above the cinched belt. Following the line of the material, Gerid's roving eyes noticed the shadow between her thighs could still be seen revealed to the soft light of the moon. "Nice robe," he commented as he worriedly moved his eyes up again to her shadowed face. The fear that she was trying to seduce him again seemed to be bearing itself out.

Catiya sighed and tried to tug the garment lower to cover herself. The effort failed miserably and only served to draw more attention to her breasts as her nipples pressed against the material. "I am sorry. It is the best that I have," she complained. "I don't usually wear anything to bed in the summer. It's just too warm and muggy most of the time here. During the winter, I wear old shirts left over from Karma and they are all in even worse shape, I assure you." The girl grinned from one side of her mouth in embarrassment. "I am waiting for him to wear out some more before this winter hits or I may get kind of cold otherwise."

Gerid had returned his gaze to the terrace view of the small grove of trees, which served to separate the main house from the servants' quarters and barns. "I'm surprised that you just don't have a seamstress make something nice for you. Surely your father would rather have his daughter covered in something other than rags."

Catiya shrugged carefully as she held the robe tightly. "I never asked, besides Karma's shirts are actually better for sleeping anyway. I like them broken in and soft. He does a fair job of that, I think."

They heard a tapping from within the room only a moment later. "Oh, she's here!" the girl exclaimed happily and ran quickly to find the door. Gerid followed more slowly. As they entered, the door opened quietly as Tabitha let her self into the bedroom. Catiya lit a small lamp for them that only brightened a small portion of the room. The three could barely see any of the furniture and nothing of the walls, but at least they could find each other.

Seeing his beloved clad in a longer version of Catiya's robe with the lace of a nightgown peeking from within as well, Gerid found himself overcome by his love and quickly moved forward to kiss and embrace Tabitha. "Hi," he whispered quietly into her ear letting his breath tickle her slightly.

The woman's eyes sparkled in the dim lamp light as she looked up at him. His heart shook within his chest as if this were the first time that he had been with her. She seemed nearly as overwhelmed. "Hi," Tabitha whispered back shyly.

"Well, I can see that I'll only get in your way now," Catiya replied quietly from somewhere just within the shadows. Gerid thought that her voice broke slightly and wondered at her feelings about this reunion, but she continued bravely on, "There is a couch in my side room. You two are free to use my bed."

"We didn't mean for you to lose your own bed, Catiya. Are you sure about this? We could slip away to the fields otherwise," Gerid said looking worriedly at the girl, though she remained in the shadows.

With another shrug, Catiya gestured towards the large canopied bed occupying a fair portion of the bedroom. "Don't worry about me, Gerid. Take it as my gift, besides I've slept on the couch often enough. I actually like using my couch more in the summer anyway." Catiya started to leave the room before she added, "Have fun," though her voice didn't seem to truly mean it. With a quiet swoosh of wood moving in its track followed by a thud, the sliding door closed behind her fleeing form.

Upon Catiya's disappearance, Gerid caressed his beloved gently and steered the woman towards the canopied bed with little resistance. Tabitha slid off her robe and allowed herself to be led. She sat waiting for him as he pulled off his shirt and worked at his breeches. Gerid noticed that the woman made no effort to remove the lace nightgown.

Still wearing the pants, he sat beside Tabitha laying his arm around her. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

Refusing to look at him, she retaliated with another question, "What exactly did you have to do for Catiya to get these privileges, Gerid?" Her voice was calm and he thought that she withheld any accusations, but the demand for the truth was adamant.

Sighing, the man moved to kneel before her. Cupping her chin carefully, the man gently tilted her face to look at him. "If you're asking whether I had to sleep with her to get us back together or something, I think that you are completely out of line. I told you of her first and only advances towards me. We became friends instead, Tabitha, because I love only you."

"She was hardly wearing anything when she met us, Gerid," she stated firmly. "A towel could have covered her better than that silk. It's shameless and you refuse to believe it."

Standing, the woman moved towards the terrace and away from him. "I think that she loves you, Gerid. Do you love her?"

He followed her slightly hunched with his worry. "She's my friend and the mistress of the house. She is close to me, but I am in love with you and you only. She cannot take my heart away from you, my love. You can trust me." Gerid rubbed her shoulders gently. He moved his hands slowly forward and found the string that tied the folds of the nightgown around her neck. With a twist he released the bond and his hands moved within the silk to slide the garment from her shoulders. He felt her shudder with tensely held excitement as he kissed her shoulders and neck as he knew she liked him to do.

"Good enough," she sighed with a nod. Tabitha's fingers deftly freed the buttons on the gown and opened the garment so that it could slide fully to the ground around her feet. The woman turned in his embrace and playfully bit into the skin of his chest. "Then you had better warn that girl that she'll never get you. If she does not like it, I will fight her with every ounce of my being."