James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

"It's large enough," she called back. "Come on in."

It was an abandoned den of some kind, but the smells were too faint to identify. It was rather cramped with two people in it, but it was more than long enough for both of them to stretch out. It just didn't have any headroom. "No, go on the other side," she ordered as he tried to crawl in beside her. The den entrance was set so that it would be to the side of them when they laid out, and she obviously wanted to be closer to it. He obligingly crawled over her, trying not to put too much weight down on her, and laid down in the space between her and the den's curled wall.

"Good," she said calmly. "I didn't want to sleep in fur tonight. This is soft enough, dry, warm, and large enough for us to sleep like this."

There was a brilliant flash and then a blasting crash of thunder that shook the whole den. "That was close," Jesmind remarked as she rolled over on her back and put her paws behind her head.

"Sounds like it's going to go on for a while," Tarrin said as the hammer of the rain became suddenly loud.

"Probably," she agreed, her eyes almost glowing in the darkness of the den. They were gathering in the light, like a dog's eyes in the dark, only the color that reflected back was the same green as they were in the light. It was an eerie look, with her eyes glowing in that manner, and Tarrin fully understood how his gaze could instill fear. If his did what hers do, then they would be frightening to look at. "I'm going to sleep. Unless you had other ideas?"

"No," he said with a faint blush. Tarrin put his head on his paws, closed his eyes, and immediately fell asleep.

It was morning. Jesmind was asleep beside him, and he'd again slept through the night without dreams. The air coming into the den smelled of wet leaves, and he could hear dripping water. After the thunderstorm, the rain had continued on as normal rain for most of the rest of the night, breaking the rather long dry snap that had been going on. He leaned over her and looked out the opening, seeing water droplets sparkling in the sun, and he could hear a wind blowing the tops of the trees. He wanted to go out and see. Putting his back against the top of the den, Tarrin tried to inch over Jesmind without disturbing her, but there was almost no room. His tail swished across her side and leg, and her eyes opened immediately and focused on him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I wanted to go outside and see, but you were in the way." He was about to say more, but her eyes seemed to go softer for a moment, and the texture of her scent changed in a way that he couldn't explain. He stared down into those lovely eyes of hers and seemed to be captivated by them. He could smell her, feel the nearness of her in the cozy den, and it seemed to be clouding his judgement. He hadn't even realized that he'd leaned down close to her until he was already there. She just seemed to lay there and see what he would do, and for some reason that bolstered the young man's courage. Closing his eyes, he lowered his head and kissed her.

It was an awkward kiss, tentative, and Tarrin didn't even know what he was doing until he felt Jesmind's paws slide up and around his back. But Jesmind seemed to urge him, and when she kissed him back, the sensation of it totally blew all coherent thought to the four winds. He realized in some corner of his mind that she made sure to get a hold on him before returning his kiss, because the sudden sensation and raw sensuality of it actually frightened him. He tensed up and tried to pull away. Jesmind let him go only so far before her claws dug into his back, and the pain caused him to instantly stop. "Whatever is the matter?" she asked, her voice breathless, her eyes a bit confused and a tad annoyed.

"You…I…I can't do this," he said in a panting tone. He wanted to, but he felt that if he did, he wouldn't want to leave her. But he had to. Her own safety depended on it.

"And what is stopping you?" she asked in a calm, quiet voice. "I know I'm not. I've been working you up to this since the moment we met, and I'm not about to let you back out now." She used a leg to throw both of them over, until he was on his back and she was on top of him, her smoldering eyes staring down into his and her paws holding him down. "I thought I was going to have to hit you over the head to get your attention. I've never been so blunt about getting a man's eye."

"But we can't, I can't-"

"Stop talking nonsense," she said in a cooing voice. She leaned down and kissed him again, and all resistance, as well as all thought, fled his mind.

To: Title EoF

Tarrin had no idea what to do now.

It was midday, and they were still inside the den. Tarrin was gathered up into Jesmind's arms, and as she slept contentedly, he brooded.

This was not what he wanted to happen.

It was, but it wasn't, and in that respect, it had been more than he ever dreamed. Jesmind had been an infinitely tender lover, and that expression of her warmth and feeling for him had touched him to his soul. He knew that he'd never think of her in the same way again. He felt a feeling of trust in her that defied explanation, grounded in the incredible intimacy that they had shared, and he would tell her anything she wanted to know, and he would trust that it would go no farther. He'd come to know her every line, her every curve, and her scent was imprinted forever into his mind. He didn't know if it was love, but there was certainly something between them now, some sort of bond that could not be broken.

What he had feared would happen had happened, though…he didn't want to leave her. He wanted to stay with her and learn what she had to teach, but more than that, he just wanted to be with her. And he knew that, unless she agreed to go with him to the Tower, that it wouldn't come to pass. The problem was, he couldn't just come out and ask her to go to the Tower with him. If she knew that it was his intent, then she'd watch him so closely that he'd have no chance to get away from her. He knew that he'd have to approach the subject very delicately, try to urge her into it, convince her that teaching him at the Tower was just as good as back at her home. And he also had to impress upon her how important it was that he learn how to control the untouched talent of Sorcery that was deep inside him, control it before he hurt someone, or hurt her.

It was very heavy thoughts, and he worried at them fretfully, almost as much as he worried at who was trying to kill him. He had no doubt about that now. They had been trying since he'd left home, and they weren't about to stop. They were probably even behind the fire in Watch Hill's inn. And they had caused this to him, the change that had forever altered his life. He didn't really blame Jesmind. She was a pawn, and whatever he'd thought at first, she had no direct responsiblity for what had happened. She was just a tool used by another. There is an old saying in the army; don't kill the messenger when he brings bad tidings. Jesmind had been the messenger. Whoever they were, they had access to some very exotic creatures, like Jesmind, they had mages like the one he'd killed, and they could make the Goblinoids do what they wanted them to do. That was considerable power, because Trolls didn't like to talk to their dinners before eating them. Those Trolls had to be afraid of the ones that told them to chase him to do what they wanted. Trolls were like that. And it was very disturbing, because from what his father had said often, the Goblinoids weren't much of a threat because of their infighting. Tribes fought tribes with just as much enthusiasm as race fought race. Well, he more or less had concluded that those Dargu had been working for the same people. If these people could command all the different Goblinoids and prevent them from killing each other, then they had an extremely powerful army at their disposal.