Chapter One
ONE NIGHT TO BETRAYAL
Time slowed down on a presumed day of murder. Nightfall until daybreak roared with sword clashes and screams of battle. Every man for himself was the day's order as feet ran more swiftly than death, scared people hiding from attacks.
"Five hundred down, two hundred to go!" Von charged being second to Feudar, chief of the Etherian knights.
Irka retreated to a brutally wounded soldier, thrashing her sword to the ground, taking her helmet off in haste, her breath ever so loud. Her eyes were exposed to fresh meat and blood as the soldier's right arm was cut off at the short sleeve. He was crying, hanging on to his open wound with all care, breathing heavily in whines and coughs.
"I can't make it! Go on without me" he spat, blood escaping his lip corners
"No! I'm not leaving you to die Jared" she cupped his bleeding face, staring into his purple-lid eyes as he panted profusely.
"You're not safe here, it's the Hagnarian borderline and there's sure to be millions of them coming at you and---"
"Shhhh....let me tie you up and hand you to safety"
She pulled off her armour, reaching for her plane top and struggling to rip it at the abdomen.
She stopped.
Gasping and trying to catch her breath in an immediate blurry vision with an iron taste wetting her seemingly dry throat and tongue.
"Irka! Behind you!" Jared screamed, sitting up in pains with his one good hand as support, coughing between short gasps.
She turned around in swift seconds which slow-motioned before her eyes and there he was...hooded and cloaked, hidden face, a bow in one hand, an arrow in the other, ready to give a second shot at her. What seemed like voices, drowned her ears and she had no memory of her last sight.
The metal taste in her mouth was savoured as her eyes shot open. Her tongue felt swollen and sore from the throat with her head pounding at a million spots per split second. The garment she had on was cotton and white making her look like a ghost as her jet black hair made spirals on the pillow underneath her head.
It was a welcoming evening, the scent of roasted hares with extreme marination touched her nose tip and her tongue watering, reminding her of hunger on a wounded belly.
Noticing the environment she was in, this wasn't Ether. There were lit candles, cinnamon sticks, moulded pots with wooden spoons sitting over the ones that opened their mouths.
The crystal ball in the dark corner of the house that was dimly lit through the open window brought to view a sitting figure, making what sounded like meditation chants. His side turned to her so she could see the half of his face and brown hair.
She tried sitting up for a closer look...
"You're awake soldier!" The man said, almost laughing as his Adam's apple gagged under his chin, he didn't face her.
"Show yourself, stranger" she arched, a creaky voice tickling her lumpy throat.
"I'm Adriel..." He whispered, turning his head to meet her eyes as tension welled up in her abdomen, causing another pain eruption in her wound. The bed creaking from her just balanced weight.
A small smile planted on his lips, his eyes shining grey at her under the dim light, she choked on her breath, her eyes wet, streaming his movements as he stood from the floor and marched to stand beside her, facing her squarely.
"What is your name soldier?" The smile never escaped his lips.
"I am Irka...what is this place?" Her eyes searched the house once again.
" You're at a hideout in Hagnar---"
"---I must go!" She raised, lifting her weak self from the bed
"Whoever shot that arrow wanted you dead..." His words paused her first step.
" You're not safe out there Irka" he grabbed her softly by the hand as she stood shoulders beside him.
"You. Have. No. Right. To call my name in such manner Hagnarian. I work for royalty" she looked up at him slowly, loosening his grip on her hand as her eyes watered the more.
"I mean no harm soldier" he corrected, whispering the last word into a soft smile.
She sighed and sniffed, looking away and immediately smearing off a tear drop leaking from her left eye.
"You must eat" he helped her sit on the bed, as he squatted before her.
She looked vulnerable in his eyes, a warrior yet so fragile, a diamond that must not go through the fire.
"What do you eat here? I see you set up a little shrine for yourself..." She looked around the room again and continued " you're not like the rest of them, are you?" She looked back at him and her eyes wandered the room the fourth time.
"All your questions will be answered soldier." He smiled and continued...
"... tonight's dish is potato soup and hare's meat" her eyebrows rising at his response.
"I'm allergic to hares, I'll have the soup alone with some black pepper" she replied, trembling from the feet, feeling slight aches on her wound.
He nodded and left to get two servings to the bed. Her face hardened and she squared her shoulders from fear that he caught her watching his every move.
"You seem tough on the outside soldier---"
"--- Irka...call me Irka" she said, tensed and staring at the bowls like she saw something.
"--- Irka...but on the inside... you're like a mother who'd sacrifice for her child. Please be free around me as I am mesmerized by you" he smiled into her soul as she broke off a soft laughter and stopped.
"A lot is expected of me, freedom is not an excuse and I am in no way attracted to you"
His smile faded at her last words but suddenly erupted again.
"Dine...and follow me afterwards" he said, taking his eyes away from her questioning ones sharply as they ate into the candle lit night.
"Where are we going?" She stood up, little strength welling inside her as he cleaned the bowls, dabbed his wet hands with a dry shaft towel and covered her with a hooded cloak.
"The shore..." He said holding her wrist and pulling her along with him into the forest whose trees seemed like figures, going as high as scraping the clouds off the dark sky.
She swallowed the windy night in deep hearty breaths, exploring the nature in a different kingdom as she walked slowly and at will.
There was a silence she craved, a peace she longed and a desire to be touched by the very hands of harmony itself.
He sensed her warmth, reckoning her wound should have been halfway healed. He became lost in the wonder of a fusion between a child and a god. He could hear his heartbeat in the dead silence, hoping desperately that she would hear it and read a meaning.
"You love nature. Is there something you want out of it?" They paused as she was startled, finding a strange liking to his manner of language.
"I want to birth life, Adriel...but I do not have the permission to do so" she looked away from his tight stare as the sweet sound of water smashing it's wavy teeth against the rocks was heard in a distance.
"Let us go...the shore is not far" he smiled, leading her by the hand up to the shore of the great Hagnarian river.
"It's even more beautiful than it was described...the wet sand, the rough stones and the water, clear as moonlight" taking an inhale of the damp ground beneath her, she took off her leather footwear and touched the bare sand with her feet, enjoying the cool shivers it shot up to the very tip of her spine.
Adriel watched magic happen right before his eyes as though he had never laid eyes on a woman...
His eyes drew closer to her body, her smile. It was too hard to believe that a soldier would be this gentle and sensual to nature's sweetness, creating a bond...life to life.
He sat and watched her sway in the breeze, taking off her cloak and forgetting her much less sore wound that seemed to heal rapidly as her feet was buried in the water. Her eyes opened to see him looking with great pleasure at her every move.
"Take off your cloak and join me Adriel. This beauty cannot be absorbed alone" she laughed at her own words and how free-spirited she was when they escaped her lips.
He slowly took off his cloak and shirt, exposing his bare skin to the wind's touch as it hovered his nipples, abdomen and spine, leading him into a deep breath.
She was stunned at the sight and wanted to look away but her eyes weren't peeling off him as he qstood up and walked into the river to stand before her, allowing his feet to soak in the water.
Somehow...he felt what she was feeling and he became lost in her eyes as her lips parted slightly watching his eyes piercing hers.
She raised her hands slowly to touch his forehead with her fingertips, feeling his face for the first time. Her fingers trailed down his nose, beneath his eyes, to his lip corner. She felt every fold and curve on his lips and stroked his chin with her thumb.
His eyes were dead shut, soft sighs breaking loose from his parted lips. His eyes flew open when her fingers left his face and stopped on his chest, he held her hand and spread her warm palm on his bare skin, looking into her eyes with intent.
"We know nothing of our history but I long to be with you" Adriel said with a melted expression on his face. His grip on her hand tightened as he felt her try to pull away at his words.
"A-Adriel..." She stuttered on her dry throat, heaving silently. He leaned in to kiss her forehead, making her sigh again and look up at him with searching eyes.
"Kiss me Adriel... for I have never felt the touch of a man this intentional" she continued, placing her second palm on his left breast.
"And no woman has ever burst through my eyes and cut deep to the depths of my soul like you have Irka" he leaned his body closer that their souls touched as he moved stray strands to the behind of her ears, beaming smiles into her already smiling face.
"You're a romantic man Adriel and you deserve someone better"...
"I only want you...I want you..." His eyes watering from expression as he leaned in deeper till their lips touched, sprouting ecstasy with each move and enriching them to the very souls.
The world stood still and only the breeze lived to tell the tale of a love-making sensation between two strangers with different lives and from different worlds.
