Chapter 14
DION
The Pools of Prophecy were like I’d never seen them. The glowing molecules in the water washing back and forth in the body of water, calling us in. Feyra stood beside me, holding my hand, her face in awe of the water.
Her face was glowing from the effervescent blue water. The roof and its tiled pictures were dull compared to her. Artwork that used to awe me and keep my attention for hours were now boring.
All I wanted to know, or feel, was her.
“And we swim in it?” she asked.
I nodded. “Only the chosen can.”
A small smile came to her lips. They were slightly parted, full, and wanting to be kissed.
I moved towards her but she stepped away. “Patience.”
She faced the water, untied her robe, and let it fall away from her. Her body was revealed and I felt my face blush. She was perfection. She strode forward, the curves of her body practically pulling me along with her. I took my clothes off quickly.
She turned to me with a smile. “Patience,” she said again.
I paused, standing there naked. She cocked her hips, defining her perfect ass, and descended into the waters. She continued until her chest was covered, then turned back to me.
The shape of her breasts rose in the water, her face was opalescent, a vision of art. Her lips were still parted, she wet them looking me over. I felt myself turn rigid.
I’d had enough, I stepped into the water.
She backed away.
I took another step.
She another.
We continued like this until I was fully submerged and she was swimming in the deeper waters. I swam out to her, she was waiting for me. Her lips were still parted, but now her eyes were full of lust.
I came close to her, reaching out and pulling her against me. Against my hard cock. We began kissing passionately, feeling each other, and grabbing our bodies with hungry hands.
She searched for my cock and began stroking it slowly, while I fondled her breasts as we swam. I got frustrated and swam backwards, taking her with me. I found footing so that I could stand, and pulled her close again.
She giggled and it rang around the room like music…
We resumed our intensity. My hands searching all over her body, finding breasts, curves, and corners. She went straight for my throbbing member. I squeezed her ass in my hands and pulled her upwards against my chest. I pressed my face into her breasts and slid her down my shaft.
She moaned with every inch she took.
I was groaning into her shoulder. Even in the water, she was so wet. Or maybe she was wet because of the water? I’d always heard they were magical.
Either way, I continued to thrust slowly. Taking her up and down with my arms, in and out with my cock. She wrapped her legs around my hips and pulled me deeper. I felt myself twitching inside of her. I was getting close…
With eyes staring right into mine, she slid one hand down to her clit and began massaging. Watching me as she began to moan, as the sounds began to sing in the chamber.
My cock was throbbing like crazy.
She was groaning louder. Taking me deeper. Harder. Her breasts were splashing in the water. She was pulling me with her legs into her–
I jerked awake. Felt the mattress at my face and not the soft skin of Feyra’s breasts. The sweet smell of her hair was gone and all I had were the ashes of the small fire Roman had used to make Feyra’s potion.
I swallowed, felt the tightness in my pants and adjusted my erection under the covers. I stretched and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Roman was already packing the horses, the sun had been up for an hour.
I rose slow, sneaking upon him and greeting him with a bear hug.
“I heard your eyes open,” he said.
“Oh come on,” I said. “No way.”
Roman smiled, tightened the saddle on his horse.
He was more tired than me but refused to sleep.
I understood why, we had another monster of Lady Skol’s on our trail now.
Merls. Beasts like the Siren Singers, except all they did was attack and feast on flesh and blood.
Lady Skol had brought them out of the Warlands, from whichever dark recess she’d come from.
They were large reptilian things, flew faster than an eagle and had claws like wolves.
Worst of all their saliva was poisonous and paralyzing, they didn’t need to worry about anyone running away if they’d bitten them.
“I’ll go wake Agatha, let her know we’re readying to leave,” I said.
Roman nodded. “She’s been up again, talking to herself. I can never hear what she mumbles, but–” he said no more.
“It’s unsettling,” I said, taking a look at the tent.
“Yes. Something about her… I can’t put my finger on it.”
I slapped his shoulder. “Eat some food, maybe have a micro sleep before we go.” He snorted and shook his head, began patting his horse.
I walked up to the tent, my hand hovering before opening.
Every morning I hoped that Feyra would wake.
Or that she’d woken in the night. I was pinning for her.
I felt so distant from her while she was in this induced sleep.
That was the downside of the potion Roman made, but I suspect he made that particular potion because of me.
If I’d had the opportunity to be with her in her dreams…
I opened the cloth door and saw Agatha already up. She lay quietly, watching her friend. “Any change?”
She shook her head. “She just keeps sleeping,” she said.
I couldn’t help myself from watching the slow rise and fall of Feyra’s breasts.
They were how I’d dreamed, perfect, round and–this was no time to fantasize and waste time.
There were monsters after us, and all the progress we’d made towards Jebra had been slowed because of this transformation.
If we were to take Feyra to the ruined city to fulfill her prophecy, then we were needing to make haste.
Agatha’s face was distraught. I doubted whether she was sleeping at all. She was so overcome by her friend's condition, she’d barely left her side. She was able to be what I yearned for. She was so caring, and yet… As Roman had said, she had something I couldn’t put my finger on.
“We’ll leave as soon as possible. Is she ready?” I asked.
Agatha nodded, but didn’t look at me. She was clutching her friend's hand. “Are you sure she’s alright?”
I sighed. “She’s okay, but she’s also incredibly weak.
For one so strong, she’s shifted too late in life.
The build up of the wolf, the sheer power she has…
it’s been a huge strain on her body. It’s why we had to keep her asleep, so that she wouldn’t hurt you, or us.
So that she could heal. But the resulting weakness. ..”
I went over, knelt by Agatha. I held off from putting a hand on her, but I did reach out internally. As always, her mind and heart were guarded.
“Her body had the wolf’s blood racing around her veins for four days.
Four. Most people when they shift for the first time, it’s barely an evening, a night maybe, but she was fighting to shift the whole time.
She’s an incredible woman. An incredible wolf.
But dangerous.” I knew that Agatha had seen us copying Feyra’s belongings.
But it was an assurance we had to take. If she managed to wake through the potion and turn into a werewolf, then we may have been lucky to have anything survive, let alone important belongings.
“Our problem now is the travel. We still need to keep moving to make the date of her meeting. But with those new monsters of Lady Skol’s flying about, we’ve had to make some dangerous changes to our route.”
Agatha nodded. “I’ll ride with her again.”
“You can’t,” I said, reassuringly. “You’ll cut your wrists to pieces. We can tie her on–”
“It’s the only thing I can do,” Agatha said, a sob escaping her. “You and Roman know so much. You’re both helping her more than I can. And this whole trip I’ve just been her sidekick. If a little rope burn is all it takes to help, then, then I’ll do it so we can keep making good time.”
I put my hand on Agatha’s shoulder and squeezed.
“You’re a great friend,” I said, and meant it.
I didn’t know what the doubts were inside me, but I believed everything she’d just said.
Maybe Roman and I had been alone for too long in the Warlands?
Spent too much time with plotters and rebels, too long with desperate farmers and vigilante merchants.
The camp was packed and Feyra, along with Agatha, tied to the horse in under an hour. After that we were gone quickly. We rode single file all morning, with eyes on the horizon and often taking the hardest route possible. We had to maintain as much cover as we could while we were being tracked.
Now in the high country of the desert plains we’d just crossed, we were in the wastelands good and proper.
After lunch we continued on in the deep gorges scarring the lands, mountainous peaks soaring like birds to our right.
The land was still in the thrall of dying its cursed death.
Any trees we saw were gnarled and fruitless.
The mighty rivers that had once been here were trickles, with streams barely alive to fill our water bags.
We’d been lucky to come upon the traders and purchase the tent, even if they’d eyed us warily. They wouldn’t pass up a sale this far out, even if it was to fugitives. But it had been a sign of how quickly the massacre’s message had spread.
We finally stopped in the late afternoon at the foothills of a jagged mountain range.
They were the last we’d cross before hitting the final plains headed for Jebra.
We decided to make camp and tackle the mountain tomorrow.
With any luck, Feyra would wake and the journey could continue on with less stress. I hoped.
The tent was pitched quickly, and I brought Agatha and Feyra down together. I let Agatha walk around for a while, getting the blood back into her legs and wrists. Her flesh was rubbed raw and she refused the balm I offered. But she was still happy she’d done it all.
I lay Feyra in the cool tent with a breeze coming in from side openings. Her breathing was better and her pulse stronger. Hope swelled in my heart that maybe tonight would be the night.
After the sun had set and our meal was eaten, I spent some time thinking about how I could bring up the rejection with Feyra.
With Agatha retiring an hour earlier, and both women being asleep.
I left Roman alone by the fire and walked off to a small lookout.
The wastelands stretched away, even in the dusk the gorges were impressive.
I thought of all the stories of Jebra I’d been told as a child.
I still couldn’t believe half of them, but now more than ever I was excited to find them and see if they were true. Roman was adamant that they were.
There had been many parts to my prophecy, but after The Scarred Heart woman was the trip to Jebra. …In Jebra, the truth will be answered…
I was excited for it. Nervous. I couldn’t think of anything else now that I was this close.
I’d come here to think of Feyra and now was only thinking of myself.
Maybe I had to see her? See if she were awake.
But I made myself wait. Made myself think about the rejection, the prophecies, Jebra.
I made myself wait and let the hours pass because if I returned early and she was still asleep, I’d get disappointed.
Eventually I allowed the excitement to grow in my chest. I felt that she was awake now. Believed that I could feel her in my mind. I knew that if I reached out, I would feel her. I began to smile.
I came back to camp quickly, running from the peak in mere minutes. I went straight for the tent. I pulled the flap aside and then the smile left my face.
The tent was empty.
Feyra and Agatha were gone.