A wide, glad smile brightened him as his hands tore away the covering he had nearly replaced. His laughter rang out as he returned to me in an eye blink, and then his arms were about me, hugging me close in great joy.
“Wench, I had not thought you would remain,” he said, amused, as I eyed him warily, recalling the embrace I had received in the darkness. “No, I shall not crush you to me again-at least until I have you upon my altar. Come, the time flies before us.”
Quickly then did he take me to that black, padded platform which was his altar to his god, turned to light the black candle which stood above it upon a ledge, and then returned to me with eyes shining as brightly as the flame. In a moment was my breech opened and pulled away and my dagger taken and thrown aside, and then was I lowered gently to the black platform, Mehrayn following to crouch above me.
“Sigurr, hear these words from one privileged to be known as your Sword,” said the male, pressing his lips lightly to mine as his hands touched everywhere. “I ask that you guard this woman I have beneath me as you would guard one you looked upon as your own beloved, one for whom you would gladly give your own life that hers be spared. She rides to danger among those who are enemy to her; protect her and aid her in her attempts as your breath in her life sign restores health to her wounded body. Should this be done, I will never again ask a thing of you, for all I wish for in this life will be seen to.”
“Mehrayn,” I whispered, but yet his lips stopped whatever words I would have spoken concerning his prayer. That he asked only for my well-being and not his own disturbed me, yet was I caught up in his devotions and unable to pursue the matter. The joy his body was able to bring to mine was a never-ending thing, and much did we revel in that joy till Mehrayn was no longer able to continue. For a long time the male continued to lie atop me and look down into my eyes.
“I do believe I detect a purr in the throat of my hadat,” said he, clearly pleased. “To cause a hadat to purr, a man need only put her to her back and stroke her deep.”
“True,” said I with a smile, “and yet must a male be ever wary of her claws. The claws of a hadat are never long sheathed.”
To prove the truth of my words I set my own claws to the flesh of his back and drew them gently down, and the male affected to cringe as though in pain.
“Ah, Sigurr, she wounds me!” he moaned, thrashing about so that his body touched mine at all points. “Surely she now shows her jealousy at my intention to take another wench to my altar. Once she has gone, how may I not take another wench? When she has returned to my side there will be no other, and yet while she is gone—”
No longer was his tone light, his eye sparkling. Soberly did he gaze at me, and surely did I believe his words were incomprehensible. The light of the fey bathed his features in the glow of growing warmth, and of a sudden it came to me that I had not the time to puzzle out his meaning. My task awaited me, the task which had for too long been put off.
“And now she must be gone,” said I, touching the serious lines of his face. “Release me, male, so that we may be about the duties which await us.”
“Ah, yes, the duties which await us,” said he with a sigh, but he remained motionless. “We shall each of us see to our duties, and yet you have not spoken of your feelings toward my taking another to my altar for devotions. Do you mean to blame me for obeying the word of my god?”
“For what reason would I do so strange a thing?” I asked, truly perplexed. “Were you pledged to follow me in servitude, then would your use be mine to keep or give to another. As you do not follow me, I have no more right to direct you in the matter than you have the right to direct me so. Though you are male you are, in a manner of speaking, a war leader; who is there below Mida who may say who a war leader takes to her sleeping leather?”
“Oh, indeed,” said he, essaying a smile. “You may no more hold me at fault than I may hold—” His words stopped abruptly to be followed by an odd smile and strange expression. “You-mean to take another to your-sleeping leather during our parting?” he asked in a strange voice. “You are a war leader, and will therefore lie with another man?”
“Should the desire come to me,” I agreed with a shrug, moving somewhat beneath him. “There will undoubtedly be many males among the home tents of the enemy Midanna, and once I have won their leadership the males will be eager to please. Mehrayn, you must release me now, for I cannot move past the bulk of you.”
“Oh, indeed, release you,” said he, at last beginning to rise from the altar. “The-males will be eager to please you, and yet by then I will have led my legions to rejoin you. There will be little need for you to seek another when I am there.”
“The matter will be seen to in its own time,” said I, relieved, as I rose from the platform. Much did I dislike all that belonged to Sigurr, although I had ignored the dislike for Mehrayn’s sake. “It may perhaps be necessary that I honor one or more of the favorites of those who will follow me,” said I, stretching my body. “I will then put aside my life sign and use the males gently, so that I do not cause them upset.”
“I cannot conceive of a man alive who would find upset at your use,” muttered Mehrayn, eyeing me where I stood. “Even those who willingly enslave themselves. And yet—I had forgotten about your life sign. With your life sign about your lovely throat, you will feel desire for none of them.”
The thought seemed to please the male; he grinned and chuckled. Again was I perplexed, even as I retrieved and replaced my breech and dagger, and bent for my sword. Once it was belted about me, I saw that Mehrayn did likewise. Much would it have pleased me to wash the smell of a male from me before taking my leave, yet would the washing be more thorough when once I found a stream or lake in the forests through which I meant to ride. I strode to the platform to find my life sign—and my fingers closed on air. Thinking I had mistaken the place, I looked about, yet nowhere was the life sign to be seen. In sudden upset I threw all things from the platform, the bow, the shafts, the flame-maker and comb I had prepared, yet all to no avail. The platform stood bare of all things-most especially my life sign.
“What occurs here, wench?” asked Mehrayn, halting beside me. “Do you mean to throw the whole room about now that you no longer will have use of it?”
“My life sign,” I said, immediately turning toward him. “Have you moved it elsewhere, male?”
“Not I,” said he, with a frown. “Perhaps it has fallen behind the table.”
Quickly then did he reach to the platform, lift it from where it stood and peer beneath, with no success. Clearly the life sign was no more beneath the platform than upon it. The male then began a slow, careful search among those things that I had thrown to the floor cloth, yet a thought had come to me that held me from joining his search. In only one manner might the life sign have flown so completely from where it had been left, and in such a manner was I able to know of Mida’s displeasure with me. As Mehrayn stood to look about himself in great frustration, I quietly walked to those things I had thrown to the floor cloth and began gathering them to me.
“The life sign is not there, wench,” said Mehrayn, giving me no more than a glance as he continued to look about. “Surely must it have been left elsewhere in error, the two of us so taken with falar that we knew not what was done. First we shall search this entire room, and should we fail to find it we must return to Aysayn’s apartment and search there as well.”
“There is no need,” said I, holding the things I would soon take to the forests with me, shaking my hair back from my arms. “No search will discover that which has been reclaimed by the one who gave it.”
“What foolishness do you speak?” he asked, turning his look of displeasure from all about to me. “The life sign has merely been misplaced, not reclaimed. Would your Mida take from you the magic of her healing powers and Sigurr’s upon the dawn of the fey you ride to battle at her bidding? Such a thing would be inconceivable.”