Aela (21 page)

With all three in sublime accord, the orders were carried out with alacrity and enthusiasm by Brude's men.

Brude experienced dagger-like pangs of jealousy piercing his heart at the news that Tua had loved another man, even though he was now wounded. He wished he was the one to have wounded him and not Rom. So he had another score to settle with Rom, glowered Brude. But he would keep his thoughts to himself, for the time being and bide his time until he had the chance to even the score with his rival, sometime in the near future.

As far as Juno was concerned, he realised that he would have to kill all three, Rom, Brude and Tua in order to have supreme power and glory over everyone. With these thoughts swirling around, the three main players on the world stage stood together watching the sun sink slowly beneath the horizon, deep in their own thoughts of ambition and revenge, thus ending another day.

CHAPTER 9

True Love

R
om purposely continued walking through the forest, whilst all the time he was constantly checking his sacred pendant. He held it firmly in his right hand in order to determine which direction to take in his quest in finding his true love Aela.

Ayab followed Rom at the rear, but soon found he was out of breath, so he yelled, ‘Rom, can't we have a rest? This pace is killing me.' He paused for a second, to catch his breath whilst his chest was heaving with pain.

Undeterred, Rom just yelled over his shoulder, ‘No. I must rescue Aela now or she will die. If you can't keep up with me, so be it. You can look after yourself.'

Ayab then started whining, ‘That's not fair. I am not as fit as you. Can't you take pity on me?'

Rom continued to ignore him and disappeared further into the forest, leaving Ayab amidst the dark, primal trees.

Ayab was now in absolute panic mode, so he leapt forward calling in a stricken voice, ‘Rom, don't leave me to die.'

Still there was no reply from Rom, so Ayab gave out an almighty shout of anguish.

Then, at that split moment he saw a movement in some bushes ahead and realised it was Rom cutting his way through the thick undergrowth with his sword. Wanting to live another day, Ayab somehow gained superhuman strength and ran towards Rom, who in turn continued to hack his way through the ferns.

Ayab finally caught up with Rom, and he decided from now on he was not going to complain. So he set his eyes determinedly on Rom's back and made sure that he was not going to be left behind on his own again. The two continued to move through the forest, with Rom having to stop every now and then to cut a path through the bushes. By this time both men were bathed in sweat, their hearts were pounding and even Rom was finding the exertion making him breathless.

Then, suddenly Rom dropped on the ground, flung his sword onto the earth and lay flat on his back panting for breath. Grateful for the short respite, Ayab lay prone on his stomach exhausted trying to catch pockets of air for his lungs, so that he didn't asphyxiate himself. The thing that always concerned Ayab the most, was looking after his precious self and this was his prime aim, above any other considerations.

After a short time, Ayab raised his head and lifted his eyes towards Rom's prone figure lying flat on the ground. Ayab could hear heavy breathing coming from Rom, so he was aware that his new master was still alive.

Neither men knew how long they lay there on the ground, but very soon, they both felt more relaxed with an energy surge coming back into their bodies. They slowly sat up and fixed each other with their eyes, with a white cold stare of hate.

‘I'm not going to have you hold me up Ayab, as my mission is so intensely urgent,' stated Rom coolly.

‘Well, you are also exhausted, Mighty one, I am not holding you up, you too, must have a rest,' exclaimed Ayab.

There was a short pause, enough time for Rom to digest the retort, then he inexplicably began to laugh loudly. On hearing this, Ayab too started to laugh in his high pitch shrill manner.

Once this outburst had abated, Rom ventured, ‘I think we need to call a truce between each other, because the reality is, that neither of us will survive without the other.'

Ayab was totally relieved now that they were both going to work as a team, and his precious person would be saved. He agreed with Rom.

‘Come now, Ayab, we will continue on our way. This time I will not go so fast so that you can keep up with me. It is stupid, for me to be rushing hell bent without any concern for my own safety or respect for what my body can do for me.'

So both the men got up wearily, continuing their trek through the trees, with Rom stopping every now and then to cut a pathway through some thick ferns, or make a detour around a small stream or rock, that was in their way.

Aela was quite put out that she could no longer send her message to Rom and no images of his face appeared within her mind. What was he doing, where was he located, and was he coming back to her, whilst she was in her trance? So, she decided to give up for the moment, and rested her weary body, by leaning her back against the tree.

As she did so she took in the sounds of the forest, animals and birds, and could almost feel the deep seated breathing from the cavernous depths of earth, as well as from the trunk of the tree, she was leaning against. In a strange way, by becoming one with her surroundings, she stopped panicking and began to feel at peace with the whole environment immediately around her.

Aela muttered to herself, ‘Well, if Rom can't reach me, I must make sure that I save myself without his help.' With these thoughts, Aela placed her ear on the ground, to see if she could hear the sound of animals moving around and by the merest chance she may be able to detect footsteps of a fellow human.

Much to her surprise, she could pick up a measured step of someone, as well as another person walking behind the first one. Her heart began to quicken with joy, at least if I am careful, I would be able to locate these two people and hopefully they would be friendly towards me, Aela placed her ear on the ground again and to her relief she realised that these two people were walking in her direction.

Suddenly she saw two figures standing in the darkness of the trees, but Aela was unable to recognise who they were. So Aela impulsively jumped, up holding her dagger in her one hand. ‘Who are you? Are you a friend or a enemy? Don't come too close to me otherwise I will cut you to pieces,' commanded Aela.

A deep male voice replied, ‘Is it you, Aela? My sacred pendant has been true, if it is you.'

Aela shouted with sheer joy, ‘Rom, I know your voice! You have saved me.'

Both rushed towards each other and Aela leapt onto Rom's chest wrapping her legs around his body, they both fell down on the ground, laughing and crying at the same time.

Ayab who was standing a little behind Rom was watching the whole scene. His first thoughts were, ‘We have another mouth to feed.'

Aela and Rom locked their arms together around each other's necks and their fiery lips met passionately. Ayab detecting that he was being completely ignored said, ‘Just a moment, you two, I must remind you, that I am also important and we still haven't got out of this blasted impenetrable forest. So either control your passion for each other and give us time to think, how we can get out of this mess. We still do not have any food or shelter and we do not know how to get back to civilization at this stage.'

These words had an immediate effect on the two lovers and they looked up at Ayab, who was now standing quite close to them.

Aela was the first to speak, ‘Who is this man? Why is he with you, Rom?'

‘His name is Ayab and I found him in the forest alone. We decided to team up, as we thought there was a better chance of getting out of this place, if the two of us put our heads together. But I am warning you Aela, don't trust this scoundrel. He is completely ego-centred and only thinks of himself and changes loyalties constantly, depending on which side he thinks is the winner.'

‘I think you are being too harsh about me', exclaimed Ayab insincerely.

Aela, quickly assessing the situation realized that he was a snake in the grass that Rom was alluding to. She looked at Ayab. ‘I always respect Rom's assessment of people and from the looks of you, I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you.'

At this Ayab was completely mortified and disgusted and turned his back on them.

Before he knew it he heard a whistling sound of a missile going past his right ear and a short dagger was impaled in the trunk of the tree in front of him.

‘Don't you ever dare to turn your back on me at any time,' yelled Aela.

With this command Ayab quickly turned around and dropped on his knees. ‘Oh, I'm so sorry my gracious lady. Please don't kill me because I can be useful to you. I pledge my absolute loyalty to you and that I will always protect you.'

At this statement Aela just burst into hysterical laughter, got up from Rom's embrace and walked over to the tree to wrench the dagger out of the tree trunk.

‘Well, for the time being your life is spared, but if at any time you cross me, you will be killed instantly,' hissed Aela in Ayab's ear. ‘Get up you rogue!', she then placed the dagger back into the pouch which was strapped to one of her legs.

Rom had observed the scene and was highly amused and he looked at Ayab, ‘Well, you've heard what the lady thinks of you and what she will do to you if you ever cross her. My advice is I wouldn't cause her to be angry towards you, because you would be killed in an instant. Let us all sit down, so we can work out a plan to get out of the forest.'

Without any complaints from Ayab or Aela they all sat on the ground facing each other.

Aela asked Rom ‘How did you find me here?'

‘Easy,' Rom replied ‘I called upon Athunor our goddess to activate my pendant, so it would lead me to you.'

Aela gave a sigh and held her hands in prayer in front of her. ‘Thank you, Athunor, for safely delivering Rom to me.' Then she unfolded her hands and placed them on her knees looking steadily at Rom.

After a short pause, Rom began to chant harmoniously, ‘Athunor Athunor, great Goddess show us the pathway of truth, so we can recover the Sacred Sword. Take it back to our homeland, use its magical powers to free our people from the oppressive rule of Brude. So we all can live harmoniously as a community and prosper with our crops and cattle.'

‘You certainly don't mind asking for everything at once,' Ayab stated acidly.

Rom completely ignored Ayab's comments and continued with his prayer, ‘We need your help now, Athunor, grant us this favour Oh, powerful one.'

Ayab was rapidly losing patience, especially as the hunger pangs were gnawing away in his empty belly. ‘I have had enough of this mumbo jumbo, I am going to find my own way out of this wretched place.'

So he stormed off running blindly through the forest swearing to himself as he stumbled on. Totally ignoring Ayab's flight from them, they continued to chant their prayers to the Moon Goddess. Alas no thoughts appeared in their minds and there were no images or messages from their sacred goddess Athunor. Exhausted, they both fell into a deep sleep, lying in each other's arms, oblivious to the sounds and smells of the forest around them.

No one knew how long the two lovers lay there, but soon Rom slowly opened his eyes to take in his surroundings. He gazed tenderly at Aela's upturned face lying on his chest and a surge of protective love overwhelmed him. Somehow they must find a way to a village, warmth, food and sanctuary. Aela began to stir, she opened her eyes and smiled, when she saw Rom's face looking down at her.

Slowly and gently Rom lowered his face towards Aela's, and when their two lips touched each other a fiery ribbon of passion surged between the two. Both tore off each other's clothes throwing them into the air in absolute abandon until they were both were naked, lying on the soft moss on the ground.

Waves of unbridled passion surged through their bodies as their arms and legs were moulded together as one. Rom's hands begin to caress sensuously Aela's body, she could feel Rom's body warmth on top of her. She tasted the salty sweat from the taut skin around Rom's smooth, muscular chest as she moved her soft open mouth up and down his body. At the same time, she could hear the rapid beating of her heart against his as she responded to his hands delving into the innermost parts of her thighs.

She then started groaning in ecstasy, simultaneously opening her legs to receive his erect penis inside her. As Rom thrust himself time and time again into her, until both bodies were as one responding to each other's love and desire for the other. At this moment the two lovers sank further into each other as they continued to unabatedly enjoy their fusion of passion.

Then Rom let out an exultant cry of sheer triumph as he once more released his life giving sperm into Aela's body. She in turn uttered a primal joyful sound of fulfilment as she received Rom's gift of life and true love.