 |
Her saliva was tinged red and dripped down from her maw onto my father's corpse. The wolf snarled again, standing over her kill. |
I pressed my back harder against the rough bark of the tree and clutched my crudely made spear so hard my knuckles turned white. It was a child's toy, but it was all I had right now to protect myself from the vicious beast. My father had told me to run, but I had not thought a wolf could bring a warrior such as him down. He had fought against the Romans and taken many heads. In my eyes, he had been invincible.
I was his only son. I would not run like a coward.
“Leave him! He's mine. I won't let you take him.” I tried to puff up my body and make my voice more like a threatening growl. I was lucky that I did not whimper.
The wolf darted forward and snapped at me. Her huge head was only an arm's length from mine. Her silver eyes shone with murder and possession. I knew she would not give up the prey she fought so hard to bring down, but I could not leave my father to become her meal.
“Go away!” I was ashamed that a few tears escaped. “Go away or I'll kill you.”
Her lips quivered with a quiet rumble, but she came no closer to me. She snapped her jaws closed, whipped her head to one side and twitched her ears. She backed up to the far side of the ravaged body and took a hold of my father's neck.
Our eyes met once more before she dragged him away into the trees. I wanted to run after the wolf and take my father's body from her, but my legs failed me. I fell forward to my knees. “No. Father.”
Something gleamed in the bloodied snow and I dropped my spear. My tears fell as I crawled forward and my hands closed around my father's sword. It was sticky with the wolf's blood, but still sharp with the care he had for it. The blade had known many victories and I would ensure it knew many more. I hugged it to my thin body and wept for a great man.
* * * * *
“For Carden!”
“CARDEN!” The warriors all raised their mugs and toasted me. Their cheers echoed in the long house along with the sloshing of ale.
I stood up on the bench and raised my arms. Only when the cheers became deafening did I sit down again and tip back my mug to wash my throat with drink.
Soft breasts pressed against my shoulder and my mug was filled to the brim again. “Whenever you need ale tonight, Carden, whatever you need tonight, I will see that you have it.”
I looked over my shoulder and grinned at Enys. Beside me, Nyle yanked her down on his lap and wrapped his muscled arms around her. “I'm what you need, woman.”
“And what makes you think that?” Enys squirmed as if to get away, but she only buried herself further into his embrace.
“It's what you screamed out last night when I was buried in you!” Nyle exclaimed and the rest of us burst out into laughter with him, drinking to his manhood.
I knew Enys had long wanted the large man to be hers and I did not kid myself when she had given me her offer. I had the most Roman heads from our last battle. She had wanted only to make him jealous. Though her curves might have tempted me, I had my eyes set on the fiery Aithne. She was five summers younger than my twenty-one, but she was woman enough for me.
We drank and sang songs about our battles. We remembered our fallen comrades and I laid my hand on my father's sword. I was never without it by my side. My only goal in life was to honor my father's spirit as I carried his blade into battle. The scars on my young body showed just how many battles I had fought. The fact that I was healthy and had all my limbs showed that I had inherited his skill.
It was late into the night before I stumbled away from the table in search of my luscious redhead. I had seen her serving ale at the far end of the long house. How long ago that was, I couldn't be sure. The night had blurred together and I only knew I needed a woman soon or I would lay down on the furs to sleep by myself.
I thrust my head out of the entrance, but the village was quiet. The tradesmen, druids and women with children would all be asleep. It was a night of celebration for the warriors and women without husbands. The cold wind whipped at my face and I pushed myself back inside. I leaned against the wooden support and searched the shadows along the walls for red hair or a spot to sleep.
A pair of eyes gleamed and met mine. A shiver raced down my body and grasped my heart.
She rose up on her knees and did not break her gaze as she beckoned me to her. She wore nothing but a Roman helmet on her head. A helmet I knew I had won because it was the only one with a red crest along the middle signifying it had belonged to an officer. I had left it on the mound behind the long house as an offering to the gods along with the head that had been in it.
I wet my lips and my feet took me forward to crouch down in front of her. “You're either very brave or very stupid to take something that was offered to the gods.” I could not stop my eyes from wandering over her lush figure, focusing in on the dark triangle between her legs.
“You won it.” Her voice was low for a woman and yet I had not heard anything more female in all my years.
“Yes, I won it. The Romans are strong as a group, but they do not fight well individually. The Caesar's troops do have a weakness.” I sought out her eyes again. While my body reacted favorably to hers, my heart skipped a beat as I looked into those silver orbs. “Your eyes....”
Leaning in, she ran her hands over my bare arms and chest, tracing my scars. “You will win many more battles.”
“Of course I will.” Her touch was entrancing. I didn't want to do anything else other than let her explore my body as she willed. All thoughts of Aithne were gone from my mind as I settled down on my knees and moved in closer to her within the shadows. “I don't know you. What's your name?”
“I am a sister.” The dark haired beauty cocked her head to the side and then ran the flat of her tongue from the hollow of my throat to just under my left ear. “Take me. Warrior. Carden. Son of a champion.”
With her touch and the ale, I could not resist her. Even without her name, I did not want to resist her. I laid her back into the furs with the helmet still on and paused. “You have heard of my father?”
“I knew him well.” She locked me to her with her strong legs. “Take me.”
I lowered my mouth to hers and supped on her full lips. “How did you know him? He died many summers ago. You are no older than me.” The world spun out of the corner of my eyes. I could only see her lovely face and those possessive eyes.
“He fought in my name and knew glory.” Her teeth tugged on my lower lip. “Be no longer a son of a champion. Carden. Be a champion. Take me.”
It was all I ever wanted. In that moment, she was all I needed.
Afterwards, I laid on my back and breathed heavily. Sleep was fast taking me. She rolled against my side and nuzzled my ear with her nose. Her body was hot and flushed like mine. I felt her warm breath against my skin as she whispered to me just before I fled the waking world.
“I am Morrigan and you are mine.” * * * * * “Father! Wait!” I turned and grinned down at my son. He had red hair like his mother and it blew in his eyes with the wicked winds. My heart swelled as it always did when I looked at him. |
 |
“I found my sword.” Bevyn held up his wooden weapon. “So that means I can come with you.”
“It's not your sword I was so worried about. I don't think a short one like you can make it through this deep snow.” I teased him about his height, but I had been short as a child, too. Height would come to him later on.
Bevyn puffed up and trudged through the snow ahead of me. It was up past his knees, but he made a good pace. “I'm not short. I can keep up with your old legs.”
I laughed and walked up to hug him to my side. I cared for Aithne, but he was the light of my soul. “Let's go catch some meat for stew then. Nothing can hide in the snow from our keen eyes, can it?”
“Nothing.” He agree with a cheer and then smiled at me my true smile. Bevyn quieted down then and I crept in silence through the snow with him. We found tracks, but no game. We wandered farther than usual, but it seemed there would be no meat for the evening meal.
I was about to tell him to turn around to head back when I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eyes. A streak of gray and white fur.
I put my hand on his shoulder and pressed my fingers to my lips. We both crouched down, listening and watching. There was no sound of animals nearby. No winter birds or rodents burrowing through the snow. The branches did not crack with the cold.
There was no sound when she stepped out from behind a grand tree and bared her teeth at me. Her silver eyes bore into me and I remembered them this time.
My sword rang with a challenge as I drew it out of its sheath. It knew the wolf's blood.
“Run, Bevyn. Run all the way back home.”
The boy gripped the back of my thick tunic. “It's only a wolf, Father. A lone wolf. You can drive her off.”
She stepped forward and I pushed my son back. “Go, Bevyn. Now!”
He yelled out as the wolf lunged at me. I swept at her with my sword and it bit into her flesh. The wound did not deter her and I tumbled back with her weight. I heard my own scream as her powerful jaws crushed my right forearm. She shook her head, shredding my arm further and making me drop my father's sword.
“Father!”
The boy's cry rattled my heart. I had given my whole self to him when he was born. I did not want him to relive my life for I had belonged to a cruel mistress until he came along. “Run, Bevyn! Run!”
She was also a jealous one. With a great snarl, she went for my throat. I tried to hit her, kick her off, but she had claimed me. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Bevyn huddled against a big rock with his wooden sword extended outwards. His tears were my own.
Morrigan jolted me and forced me to look into her eyes. Her canines sunk deeper, piercing my artery. No words were needed. I had once been her champion and she had come to take back what was hers. Just as she had claimed my father.
If only Bevyn had run.