"No, Publius! No!"
The cry startled me as much as it did the buck, shattering my concentration so that I flinched and jerked the bow high, straining my muscles against the instinct to release the arrow. By the time I looked again, my beautiful buck had vanished. Slowly, gritting my teeth, I released the tension on my bow. Then I turned around to where Luceiia stood watching me, the fingertips of one hand touching her lips and her eyes wide and filled with apprehension. With her other hand she clutched a blanket she had wrapped around her against the morning chill. I made no move towards her and she simply stood there, waiting for my anger to break over her for the first time.
"Why did you do that?" I asked her, calmly.
She blinked her own deer-like eyes at me. "I... he was too beautiful. I didn't want you to kill him. "
"I divined that much already, Luceiia. But why did you find it necessary to frighten me out of a year's growth as well as tonight's dinner?"
"What? Frighten you? How did... ? " Her eyes changed slightly, crinkling to a smile. "Did I startle you?"
I nodded slowly, seriously, drinking in her marvellous beauty as she stood there unaware that her nakedness beneath the blanket was clearly visible.
"Half to death, " I said. "What would you have done had I fallen dead?
How would you have felt? Would the buck have comforted you?" Her hand moved up to cover her mouth completely, masking the laugh that now danced in her eyes. "You are not angry?"
"I asked you how you would have felt had I died of shock, woman. Answer me. "
Instead of speaking she shivered, giggled and turned to dart back towards the leather tent hidden among the saplings behind her. I chased her and caught her at the entrance flap and bore her down onto the still-warm pile of furs inside.
Hours later, riding through a golden springtime morning, she was still talking about the deer whose life she had saved, pointing out that, had I killed him, I would have had to spend time cleaning, skinning and butchering him, so that we would have lost the glory of the early day. Besides, she said, the buck was young — too young to have experienced life and the wonders of mating. Was I so jaded and indifferent to life that I could deny its pleasures to another, even to a deer?
The spring sun shone warm and strong on us, and her eyes sparkled with health and humour. The long, clean lines of her thigh filled out the soft leather breeches she wore for riding. My breath thickened in my throat as I followed her contours with my eyes, although for the moment I was content to ride alongside her, listening with pleasure to her prattling and feasting my eyes on her crystalline beauty. This was my wife! Even after almost a full month of marriage I still had to keep reminding myself of this. She was mine! I could have her and enjoy her any time I wanted to, for the remainder of our lives.
"You are not listening, Publius. "
The singsong notes of her comment brought me back to attention with a start.
"I was day-dreaming. Forgive me. What were you saying?"
"I was saying, husband dear, that I feel a sorrow, a sympathy, for the poor animals. "
"What animals? Deer? Why?"
"Not merely deer — all animals. " She was grinning at me, mischief dancing in her eyes. "Because of the way they are tied to seasons and have no hands. "
I felt myself frowning. "I don't follow you. "
"I know you don't, because you haven't been listening. But you would follow me if I slipped from my horse and from my clothing here in this long, lush grass, would you not?"
"What?" I felt my stomach tighten with anticipation and glanced around me involuntarily. "You mean here? On this open hillside?"
"Open?" Her laugh was tinkling bells. "We are miles from anywhere, husband, and I want you. I want to feel your hands and your body and the cool greenness of this grass on my skin. "
Somehow our horses had stopped moving, and the air between us seemed to solidify and tremble, drawing me towards her.
"You are a shameless wanton, " I muttered, hoarsely.
"Completely, with you. "
She laughed again and seemed to flow down from her horse's back and into the long grass, and I almost fell from my own mount in my rush to join her.
Our horses grazed contentedly nearby for more than an hour while we dallied in the rich warmth of the sun, and then she suddenly sat up and reached for her clothes.
"I am lost, husband, " she said. "How far are we from the valley?" I remained where I was, supine and spread-eagled, and pointed with my thumb over my head in the direction of the crest of the hill above us.
"Just on the other side of the summit, there, " I told her. "About a half hour ride to the top, and we'll be looking down into it. " She leaned across to kiss my chest and then caught hold of my flaccid maleness, pulling it gently but firmly upwards as if it were a handle by which she could lift me.
"Well then," she said, "up off your lazy rump and let's go and look at it."
I started to rise and then lay back, staring into the sky.
"Look, up there, right above us. "
Sitting as she was, she could not see anything, so I pulled her back down beside me and we lay side by side for minutes, watching two tiny crosses floating in the sky a mile and more above us.
"What are they, Publius? Dragons?" I could hear the smile in her voice.
"No, " I said, "those are eagles. A mating pair. "
"A mating pair? You mean they are mating now?"
"Hardly, my love. I meant that they are male and female. "
"How do you know that? And how do you know they are eagles? They could be hawks. "
"No, too high up. And look at the wing span, even from here. " I reached out and took her hand where it lay beside me. "Those are eagles. They're probably watching us watching them. "
"You mean they can see us from that height?"
"Probably better than we can see them. The eagle's eye is the keenest in the world. "
She squeezed my fingers. "Do you think they are in love?"
"Probably. Eagle love. They mate for life. "
She leaned up on one elbow, looking down at me. "Really? I didn't know that. "
I squinted at her. ''Come now, I thought you knew everything!"
"No. " She lowered her head to my chest. "Not everything. Just the things I need to know and the things I want to know. " She paused for a while, then asked, "Where do you think their nest might be?" I lowered a hand to caress her hair. "I don't know, but it must be around here somewhere. This is the hatching season. They must have chicks. Wherever it is, it's somewhere high up. Probably on one of the hilltops, on a cliff face. They nest in the same place every year, too, you know. "
"The same mate and the same nesting place for life? They sound almost human. "
I still had not taken my eyes from the two solitary shapes wheeling above us. "Don't malign them, Luceiia. Some humans, very few, attain the dignity and honour, you might almost say the purity, of eagles. Very, very few. "
"What do you mean, Publius?" Her voice was very quiet.
"I mean that only eagles can be eagles, my love, and eagles can only be eagles. They are unique. They never demean or disgrace themselves. Their purity is absolute because they are incapable of voluntary imperfection. " She kissed me. "Just like you, you mean?"
I returned her kiss. "No, Luceiia, not like me at all. I'm far too human. "
"Then, husband, if you are too human, no man can ever hope to be an eagle. "
I sat up and reached for my own clothes. "That's not true, my love, " I said. "Have you ever looked closely at your brother?" She lay still and blinked her eyes in silence.