Storm Holt (The Prophecies of Zanufey Book 3) Read online

‘Let me look at it. Does it hurt?’ He reached over to her and tried to see, but she pulled away grasping her shirt between her breasts.

  ‘Please,’ she said, louder than she meant to.

  He pulled away embarrassed as well. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to…’ he let it trail off, whatever he was going to say. She could tell from his frown that he was caught between wanting to help and letting her be.

  ‘The mark of the raven, if I’m not mistaken,’ Coronos said as he filled his pipe with lintel weed. Issa looked at him, despite his age he had sharp eyes. ‘Freydel would know more about that, but there are some things I’ve heard about. When did it happen?’ he looked at her, and smiled reassuringly at her worried look.

  She released her grasp on her top and smoothed crinkles.

  ‘It happened after I returned the dagger to Karshur,’ she began. ‘I wanted to talk about it, but everything’s happened so quickly since then. I told you about the dagger, and when Karshur took me to the Land of Mists, but I did not mention the gift. I didn’t understand it, I still don’t. Karshur’s task was done, and in doing it he gave me a gift before he departed. A mark that is a raven,’ she hesitated, wondering how to explain.

  ‘Alongside Keteth’s gift the mark is a spell that allows me to physically go into the land of the dead instantly and return. I think there’s more to it,’ she added, remembering her abrupt return from the Murk. ‘I didn’t want these gifts, and don’t want to use them, but it saved my life on Celene. It seems that ravens also have this gift, to move between the worlds.’

  ‘Ravens can travel between the living and the dead,’ Coronos nodded. ‘A gift such as that will have hidden blessings I’m sure.’

  ‘There’s something else that happened, maybe the karalanths told you,’ she said, wondering if she should talk about it. She wanted to share the strange things that happened to her, didn’t want to shoulder them alone. ‘It’s a bit like when Asaph becomes a dragon. When the foltoy attacked us in the forest, I somehow transformed into a raven to escape them. I’m not quite sure how it happens but I’m almost certain Karshur’s gift, the raven mark, has something to do with it.’ There, she’d said it now, and she went silent to see what their reaction would be.

  She was relieved to see only looks of mild surprise on their faces, then annoyed - surely transforming into a raven was no small thing. She looked into her glass, and drained the rest of the wine.

  ‘There’s far more to this world than even I can imagine,’ Coronos said, shaking his head with a smile, ‘and here I sit with two shape shifters. You two really are becoming quite something.’

  ‘As long as it doesn’t hurt, I’m sure the mark is quite becoming,’ Asaph grinned at her. His dimples made her blush. ‘Maybe one day we could fly together.’

  ‘I’d like that,’ Issa smiled.

  They finished their drinks as the evening drew on and the late summer sun faded.

  ‘Let’s get an early night,’ Coronos advised, ‘and hopefully see the mayor first thing before anybody else.’ They both nodded, already stifling yawns as it was.

  Chapter 8

  Beneath Doon's Light

  ‘WE thought you were dead,’ Shufen said, sipping his steaming soup as they sat outside the Elder’s house. The light of the pyre illuminated those gathered there now that the sun had fully set.

  ‘I was gone at most half a day. Possibly the worst half a day of my life,’ Marakon said, gripping his own mug between his hands.

  ‘You were gone no less than a week, my friend,’ Shufen shook his head. Marakon started at his words.

  Shufen continued without noticing. ‘We waited for nearly as long. I thought you were already dead but Jarlain did not believe it. Then she had a vision of you returning on shining horses that moved faster than the wind. Then she saw the Seadevils coming. If she hadn’t had that vision we wouldn’t have been at all prepared for this attack. Thank the goddess you came, there were so many of them.’

  ‘A whole week?’ Marakon replied incredulously.

  Shufen nodded. ‘I warned you about that awful place, time moves funny there. What did you see?’

  ‘I saw myself, of what I was many lifetimes ago. I’d never really thought about past lives, or if they were even real.’

  ‘They’re real all right,’ Shufen nodded with eyes wide.

  ‘Indeed. And now my knights of yesteryear, who died forgotten and alone and cursed to wander the Drowning Wastes as wraiths, have returned. Their curse has been lifted so that we may right and wrong and finish what we started.’ Shufen looked at him with raised eyebrows.

  ‘We must destroy the one that cursed us,’ Marakon said shrugged. Memory of the ordeal in the Drowning Wastes, of the demon wizard Karhlusus, and of his past lives made him pale. ‘How long I’ve wanted to be free of the darkness surrounding my days,’ he shook his head.

  ‘Seeing you all fight…’ Shufen’s voice broke his thoughts. ‘I think you have powers beyond mortal men and women. I think the goddess has blessed you in spite of your curse. And now you have your first victory.’

  Marakon smiled. ‘The first of many.’

  ‘ “The first of …” what, did you say?’ Jarlain’s voice came from behind. She smiled down at them.

  Marakon jumped up, surprised to see her up so soon when surely she should be lying down. She had washed and changed into clean clothes, but she looked pale and exhausted. Before he could stop himself he embraced her. She hugged him back, she felt weak. Her hair smelt of flowers and he found it quite intoxicating.

  ‘I’ll go see how my father is doing,’ Shufen said and left.

  ‘The first of many victories,’ Marakon said huskily, and drew back. ‘Your stone, the one with the bear, it brought me back. It reminded me of the real world, of you.’

  She said nothing, only smiled. ‘I’m so glad you returned.’ Tears glistened in her eyes.

  ‘You should not be up. You were hurt badly,’ he said.

  She nodded. ‘Yes, I lost lots of blood, but the Elders are learned and skilled. The bleeding has stopped, though it will take time to heal fully. Movement can help, and I was getting sore from lying down. I could sleep no longer.’ He embraced her again and felt her sag weakly in his arms.

  ‘Let’s sit,’ he said hastily, and helped her sit beside him, she leant most her weight on him. ‘We should take you back to bed.’

  ‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I want to stay here with you.’

  He stroked back a lock of her hair, noticed the smooth curve of her cheek in the light coming from the Elder’s house. ‘I cannot stay,’ he said.

  ‘I know,’ she said without looking at him. ‘That’s why I don’t want to go back to bed. I don’t want to be alone.’

  ‘I have a wife and children,’ he began. Perhaps she knew already. A flicker of pain passed across her features. ‘And I must return to them. I miss them and my home. The goddess calls us, we cannot ignore that call. I never really thought about the goddess much. I thought like most think, that she, in all her guises, had abandoned us to our fate. But now the dark moon of Zanufey rises, and because of it, because of her, my curse has been lifted so that I might right a terrible wrong I committed. I have to set my knights free for good.’ He said these things, the truth, and yet all he wanted to do was to stay here with Jarlain and the Gurlanka. Set down his sword and heal his warrior spirit once and for all.

  ‘Tell me what you did. It’s time to hear it all, I’m not afraid and I won’t judge. I know you for who you really are. Who we were in the past is not who we are today,’ Jarlain said.

  Marakon looked at her and sighed. He didn’t want to talk about it, but they had to know, she had to know. He finished his mug of spirits and stared at the burning pyre. Where to begin? The memories of that far away time rolled through his mind, and they were as clear as if it had all happened yesterday.

  ‘A long time ago, I’m not sure how far back, but it was during the Demon Wars over three thousand years ago, when I was king of the an
cient sunken land of Unafay.’ Jarlain leaned back to stare at him, disbelief in her eyes.

  Marakon smiled. ‘I’m not lying. It was your High Elder who revealed that part to me just a few hours ago.’ Jarlain looked away and curled closer in to him as he spoke. He told her everything that he remembered; of his honourable knights and their battles against the demons, of his rise to power and greed for more, of being tricked by Karhluses and slaughtering hundreds of innocent people. He told her everything as quickly as he could, thinking that if he spoke fast the emotions would have no time to break through. She did not say a word, even for a long time after he’d finished. Eventually she broke the silence.

  ‘I wish I was cursed with you, like one of your knights,’ she replied, jutting her chin forward and pursing her lips.

  ‘No you do not,’ he said, shaking his head. His voice was hoarse from all the talking. He didn’t want to think about the past anymore. ‘I will miss you, terribly, and want you to come with me.’

  She looked at the ground. ‘My duty is here with my people. I must help rebuild our home and lives, and heal the pain of those left behind. One day I will become an Elder. And, if it is right and appropriate and the Hidden Ones speak to me, I will become the High Elder. I can take no husband.’

  ‘I don’t want you to have your ears broken,’ Marakon scowled.

  She shrugged. ‘For the good of all, I would. But they say I already have a special gift, the gift of foresight, and if it is through that that the Hidden Ones will speak to me, then my ears need not be stilled.’ Marakon felt a little relieved at that.

  ‘Does it annoy you when they call you half-elven?’ she asked, changing the subject.

  ‘Yes,’ Marakon said. She giggled.

  ‘I like the sound of it though, they seem brave and beautiful,’ she said, looking at Ghenath sat talking with Cormak a few yards away. She was dressed in linens like the Gurlanka and her long hair shone gold in the fire light.

  Marakon snorted. ‘Beautiful, yes. But most turned out to be cowards. And a few,’ he nodded towards Ghenath, ‘are the best people I have ever had the honour to fight beside.’

  Jarlain looked at him as if pondering something. ‘I see the war within you. You are probably the strangest man I’ve ever met, able to see clearly the worst in people, but also the best. You are strong in many ways, but carry a painful past, and yet you fight so fearlessly and ferociously. After so many tortured lifetimes, and remembering them, I doubt I would have the strength nor the will to carry on.’

  ‘I have no choice but to carry on,’ he shrugged. He held her close and they sat in silence, listening to the sound of the people talking before the pyre, the moans of the wounded behind them inside the Elder’s house, and the sound of the sea in the distance breaking on the shore.

  ‘When will you go?’ she asked.

  ‘Soon. We have already stayed too long. As soon as Hylion, Lan and everyone else has rested.’

  ‘How will you go?’

  ‘The same way I came. The boatman, Murlonius. I just have to call him, he is waiting for me. He too is cursed. He can never set foot upon mortal physical shores again, though that is all I know of it. I think he is ancient. An Ancient, even.’

  ‘I would like to meet him. In this world there’s nothing but pain, sadness and loss.’ Jarlain shook her head. ‘I wish that Seadevil had killed me.’

  He looked down at her, saw her eyes fill with tears. He bent to kiss her cheek, wanting to kiss away her tears, but instead he found her lips. She parted them and he kissed her. He kissed her harder, feeling her own need match his. She gave the softest moan with her eyes closed. His heart was pounding, his own desire surprised him. He should not want her the way he did, not when Rasia was waiting for him with his children, for spirit’s sake. Was it possible to love two people equally? He drew away reluctantly.

  ‘Take me into the trees,’ she breathed.

  He looked down at her, her brown eyes stared unblinking up at him. He would leave soon, never to return. Could he deny her? Could he deny himself and forever wonder? Gently he picked her up and carried her into the dense jungle. Soon he would leave her forever, and that awful thought drove his actions and drowned out the voice of guilt.

  Marakon stopped in a sandy clearing within the trees. The sea was only a few yards away, and the ocean lapped at the shore.

  Rasia would like it here, he thought with a half smile. The white beaches and tall palm trees would remind her of her own childhood home on the coasts of South Frayon. She would want to swim naked in the moonlight, her long copper curls floating out around her. He loved Rasia but he couldn’t deny his feelings for Jarlain. He felt bad, felt confused.

  He set her down on her feet and held her close. She looked up at him, tears filling her eyes once more, and he bent to kiss her, long and gentle. He could hold her and kiss her and enjoy these last moments together. Nothing more. Then he would be back in Rasia’s arms with their sons running around them, where he belonged.

  He pulled back, guilt and desire battling within him. It is only a kiss, he told himself, though he wanted more. It had been so long, months too long. He felt torn in his stomach. After a moment, he pushed the guilt away and bent to kiss her with certainty. She drew him down to the floor smiling, making the tears curve around her cheeks. She lay down, her long dark hair spread out around her.

  ‘You should have a husband, many will love you,’ he said, stroking her stomach.

  ‘I don’t want one,’ she shook her head. ‘Children, maybe. Lovers, yes. But a husband, no, and it’s forbidden for an Elder anyway. The only husband I would have, is you.’ She trailed her fingers up his bare arms as she spoke making his skin tingle.

  He sighed at her words, trying not to think of his own family, wanting only these moments with Jarlain. The white light of Doon spilled through the clouds then, illuminating everything. He took her trailing hands and kissed them. She pulled his own hands down to stroke the soft skin of her thighs through the fold of her skirt. He let her take control, as if by doing so it would somehow quell his guilt.

  She undid his shirt and he let it fall free as he stroked her smooth skin, wanting to feel every part of her. She slipped off her own shirt, and his breath caught in his throat as Doon’s light spilled over her full breasts and slender stomach. The moonlight shone like silver on her shapely body. He felt he should not be allowed to touch something so beautiful, and for a moment he hesitated. But when she drew his hands to her breasts he could not resist either, and it was then that desire flooded into him fully. He kissed her and fumbled for the cords of her skirt, letting it fall away. He touched the bandages of her leg where she’d suffered a knife wound.

  ‘I don’t want to hurt you,’ he said pulling back, his voice deep with desire as she kissed and nibbled on his lip.

  ‘You won’t,’ she reassured, and laid back down drawing him with her.

  ‘Jarlain,’ he breathed, as she pushed down his trousers and gripped his buttocks firmly.

  He stroked her from her hips to her stomach to her breasts, feeling her goose pimple in delight as he felt every curve. She gave a moan and he could delay no longer. He laid himself firmly against the inside of her good thigh as she shifted her legs apart. Gently but firmly pushed into her. She gasped. With each gentle thrust she pulled him deeper, and he felt as if a lifetime of tension was slowly being released. He began to lose himself then, falling into the excitement of desire as he made love to Jarlain. He was himself fully, but drifting in a sea of ecstasy. He wondered if she felt the same as she arched her back, half closed her eyes, and moaned.

  She tightened herself around him, and he groaned as his bliss reached a new level. It had never happened before when he made love, this losing of the self, but with Jarlain something seemed perfect, divine. They moved together and all else fell away, the sound of the sea, the light of the moon, there was only this moment of ecstasy stretching out into eternity. The world may very well have not existed.

  He felt hi
mself rushing towards something then, like a light in the distance coming closer at increasing speed. He felt her wetness flooding over him, felt her spread her legs wider and push him deeper. She groaned from far away. He felt her spasm deep inside and that sent him reeling. The light rushed over him as he heard himself gasping, equally from far away. His whole being seemed to disintegrate even though he felt his physical body thrusting of its own accord. A long time seemed to pass as he floated in the light, his spirit free in bliss. Have I known Jarlain before? He asked of the light, but all he felt in response was the knowledge that, yes, he had.

  He was partially aware of a hand on his cheek and a voice drawing him back. He did not want to return, but he wanted to be with that voice. He took the hand and kissed it, feeling his body return to him once more. Tears ran down his cheeks, the grief of a hundred lifetimes had somehow lifted a little. He blinked and the jungle around him materialised. He looked down at her, she stared up at him in wonder and maybe a hint of fear.

  ‘Is it always like this?’ she breathed, her face and breasts were flushed pink.

  He smiled and shook his head. ‘No.’ He lay down beside her suddenly spent.

  ‘I’ve never felt like that before,’ she breathed and stroked his cheek. He drew her close, laid his chin upon her head, and she curled her arm around him.

  ‘I felt my soul lifting from the emptiness,’ he tried to explain. ‘I have not felt such release, only in battle, but that is very different.’ He didn’t know what had happened either, but he felt better than he had for a long time.

  ‘They say a healer can do that, when they make love. The energy is shared and healed,’ she said, also trying to explain. ‘I saw you, a powerful old soul. I felt like a butterfly when compared to a magnificent eagle.’

  ‘Beautiful if not more so,’ he said, stroking her hair.

  ‘You took me higher than I ever thought possible. Maybe I helped you heal but you have opened up doorways within me to a higher place,’ she said.