Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (9 page)

There I was again on his shoulder.

“Tor!” I shrieked, beating at his back and
kicking out my legs. “Let me down.”

“Quiet,” he commanded, squatting to pick up
one of the sacks.

“I said… let… me…”

Crack!

Another slap on the ass.

Serious
ouch.

God, I
hated
it when he did that.

“You’re having a bloody bath and you’re
putting on some bloody clean clothes and some damned, bloody
shoes,” he declared.

Oh.

Well then.

Okay.

He dumped me on Salem, swung up behind me,
dug his heels in, barked, “Hee-yah!” and Salem burst out of the
mouth of the cave.

I was on my belly but I carefully twisted
and pulled myself to sitting even though my butt cheek still
smarted from where he hit me and in this position he clearly felt
the need to circle me with an arm and I knew this because he did
exactly that.

I faced forward, ducked and swayed with him
as the branches passed us and I couldn’t stop the smile spreading
on my face or the word from hitting my brain.

And that word was,
goodie.

* * * * *

Okay, let me tell you this…

The clothes in this world
rocked!

We were back in the cave, I’d bathed in the
river (it was still cold but he had soap, the soap smelled like
lavender and I’d cleaned myself with it from head-to-toe) and I had
on clothes
and
slippers.

And what clothes.

They were straight from a renaissance
festival but they kicked
ass.

A silky, pale pink, flowy top with gathers
around the neckline and full flowing sleeves that gathered at the
wrists. Also full, flowing skirts, these of a dusky purple with
petticoats, these a lovely mint green and the bottoms were dripping
with a same-color, glorious lace. To cinch in the flowy top, I was
wearing a skintight vest, royal blue that hugged me at the midriff
and shoved up my breasts over its top, somehow providing support at
the same time looking way, freaking cool. With the low-cut neckline
of the shirt and the tight fit of the vest, I was displaying
serious cleavage but from what I could tell, it… looked…
awesome.
There was also a braided belt in all the colors I
was wearing that I tied to hang low on my waist.

And last, but not least, the underwear was
d-i-v-i-n-e,
divine.
Silky, ivory shorts with delicate lace
at the bottoms and matching camisole with lace at the bottom and
bodice. These fit perfectly, clinging to the right places, tight to
the right places looking crazy fabulous but comfortable as all get
out.

And the capper was the shoes. Sweet little
flat, no-heeled (but thick suede-soled) slippers made of purple
satin. They were simple and comfortable at the same time they were
fab…you…
las.

I didn’t know how I’d feel wearing something
like this day in and day out. There was a lot of a fabric, the
skirts were danged heavy and I didn’t think it would be that great
if it was hot or I had to do manual labor or something like
that.

But right now, they were great. They felt
strange on my body but they oddly fit perfectly, the colors were
to-die-for and they were
not
that blasted nightgown (which I
also, by the by, took the opportunity with the lavender soap to
clean in the river).

For once in nearly three days I was
content.

We’d come back, Tor had disappeared, I’d
finished my sweeping, arranged the grass and hides and although I
was starved, my body was tired, I was clean and I had on a killer
outfit.

This would work for me for now. This was
lemons and I was making some freaking tasty lemonade, let me tell
you.

The hide was swept back at the opening but
Noctorno didn’t enter. He stood there holding the skins back and
scowling at me.

“Yo,” I greeted him with a smile.

He kept scowling at me.

Then he grunted, “Come.”

I blinked before asking, “What?”

“We’re going to dinner.”

I blinked again and, get this, I felt my
heart get light.

“What?” I breathed.

“I need a pulse and you need food.
Come.”

“A pulse?”

“The feel of the land, a sense of what’s
happening out there… the pulse. Now, come.”

I shot to my feet, still smiling and agreed
with an, “Okay.”

He glowered at me as I walked (with only a
slight limp, I had on my killer slippers but that didn’t mean my
feet weren’t still raw) toward him.

The minute the pelts fell into place behind
us, he swept me up in his arms and I let out a surprised girlie
shriek before my arm automatically circled his shoulders.

“What on –?”

“Gods, Cora, just be quiet,” he muttered on
a sigh.

“Okey dokey,” I muttered back.

If he wanted to carry me, so be it. I mean,
the cave wasn’t that big so he didn’t have to carry me far.

And anyway, I was feeling good. I was clean,
had on actual clothes and he was going to feed me without me having
to kiss him (or alternate activities) to get it.

I was not going to argue.

He set me on Salem, swung into the saddle
behind me, rounded me with an arm and dug his heels into the
steed.

Salem bolted out of the cave.

The sun was setting and it was close to dark
as we cantered down the mountain.

“Is this safe?” I asked.

“We’ll soon find out,” was Tor’s not very
reassuring response.

That shut me up.

But only for awhile.

“This outfit kicks ass,” I informed him and
his arm tightened around my midriff in a weird way, like the
movement was spontaneous and he didn’t mean to do it.

Then he asked, “Pardon?”

“This outfit,” I pointed to myself and
twisted my neck to look back at him, “kicks
freaking
ass. I
love it. It’s awesome.”

He looked down at my face as one of his
thighs moved almost imperceptibly under my legs and Salem
slowed.

“You like it?”

“No, Tor, I
love
it. The colors are
beautiful and the shoes are totally fab…you…
las.
”

“Gods,” he whispered, his eyes moving over
my face, “you like it.”

“Okay, you can say I like it when I told you
I love it. That’s cool. Whatever,” I replied and turned to face
front again. “And thanks for the bath. That river is cold as
Siberia but it feels nice being clean.”

He made no response to this except his arm
got tighter again, this time it felt like he meant to do it and it
go so tight I slid the half an inch back so the side of my behind
was snug in his crotch (because I was riding sidesaddle) and my
back was tight to his front.

With no response from Tor, I kept blabbing
as I watched the lush forest trees and beautiful stone of the
mountain slide by. “And I’m so glad to get out of that cave for
dinner. I know you need to take the pulse but I’m glad you’re
taking me with you. That’s very cool of you. Thanks.”

Still no response but I felt his fingers
open up at my side so they spanned my ribs then they flexed in.

“God!” I breathed, looking around. “This
place is magnificent. Totally out of a movie. The colors are so… I
don’t know…
colorful.
The trees seem to have ten times as
many leaves. The stone seems like it’s almost
glossy.
It’s
bizarre but so stinking cool. I wish I had a camera and I could
take pictures. No one at home would believe this.”

Finally, he spoke. “Camera?”

I twisted to look at him again and nodded.
“Yep, it’s this gadget that’s really small but it takes pictures.
Do you have paintings here? Portraits? Landscapes?”

“Of course,” he grunted, staring down at
me.

“Well, a camera takes a portrait or a
landscape by touching a button, you load it on your computer, print
it out and
voila!
” I threw out a hand. “You have your
picture.”

“That’s mad,” he muttered.

I grinned up at him. “I know but it’s
true.”

“So my world is more colorful than your
world?” he asked and my light heart lightened more.

Was I finally convincing him?

I nodded fervently. “Yes, totally. It’s hard
to explain but the birds are more vibrant. The flowers more
dazzling. The river is cleaner than any river I’ve ever seen.” I
tilted my head to the side. “There’s a lot of pollution in my
world.”

“Pollution?”

“People litter, big corporations dump waste.
It’s not good.”

“Love, I don’t know what the bloody hell
you’re talking about.”

I looked into his sky blue eyes and realized
I was glad he didn’t.

Then I said, “Well, I guess my world has a
curse of sorts too but all of man caused it by getting rid of their
rubbish, and we create a lot of rubbish and some of it is
unnatural, in the rivers, the oceans, burying it under the
fields.”

“Why would they do that?”

I shrugged and turned forward. “I don’t
know,” I whispered. “Because we’re stupid, short-sighted and
greedy.” I looked at the darkening landscape that was still verdant
in comparison with my world even with the falling night. “I
wonder,” I went on in a whisper, “if my world looked like your
world before we destroyed it.”

“Maybe it did,” he remarked.

“That would suck,” I muttered.

“Suck?” he asked.

“It would be bad.”

Silence then, “Yes, love, it would.”

I fell silent and Salem cantered down the
mountain, found a road and took it. Tor’s leg moved under mine
again and Salem speeded up to a gentle canter. At the same time I
felt Tor’s thumb start moving, up and down, stroking me at my
side.

That felt nice.

Oh man.

“Tor?”

“Yes, Cora.”

The trees rushed by, Salem took us around a
curve and the road started to follow the river. The new moon shown
on its translucent waters, my breath caught in my throat and I
forgot what I was going to say.

“Cora?”

“What?”

“You called me, my love.”

“Oh, right,” I whispered and rested against
him. “I forgot what I was going to say.”

He rested his jaw against the side of my
head.

“It’ll come to you,” he murmured.

“Okay,” I replied on a whisper and relaxed
completely against him.

His thumb stopped stroking but all his
fingers tightened into the flesh at my side.

I sighed and gazed at the view.

Princess

“Holy crap! Look at that!” I cried and
pointed straight ahead at the vision that lay before me.

A village at the base of the river. A
quaint, adorable village with thatched roof, timbered buildings
that hugged the riverside and crawled partially up the mountain,
their windows lit warmly and, I leaned forward and peered ahead, an
abundance of colorful lanterns hanging from the roof ends. There
were short piers jutting into the river with small, charming wood
boats attached to the piers that also sported lanterns.

It was unbelievable!

And as we got closer, it got more
unbelievable for it, like my (or the other Cora’s) house, was
filled with flower beds, window boxes and planters burgeoning with
thriving blooms
everywhere.
Not only that, there were
glistening cobblestone streets and sparkling diamond-paned windows
in the buildings.

“It’s
gorgeous
,” I breathed.

“It’s a village, Cora,” Tor informed me and
I twisted quickly to look at him.

“No, honey, it’s
gorgeous,
” I
whispered, watched him blink, slowly again, then I turned back in
order not to miss anything.

We made it to the edge of the village and
even though night had fallen, people were wandering the side of the
road.

“Heya,” I said on a smile when a man looked
up at us and started.

“Well, uh… hullo there,” he replied
hesitantly as we trotted past.

“Cora,” Tor said low.

“Yep,” I replied then a woman lifted her
head, looked at us and she started too but I caught her eyes and
called, “Hello!” and capped it with a wave.

I turned, looked around Tor’s body and kept
waving until I saw her lift a hand and a tentative smile hit her
face.

“I’m seeing we need to make a deal,” he
remarked.

I straightened and looked up at him. “A
deal?”

“You need to be smart in the village. None
of your games.”

I stared at him and I felt my light heart
drop a notch.

“My games?”

“You’re Cora Hawthorne here.”

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“You,” he answered.

“I’m Cora Goode,” I told him.

“Yes, love, you were until you took my
name.”

Oh. Right.

And his last name was Hawthorne. Noctorno
Hawthorne. All together that was a pretty badass name.

“So, what I’m saying is, you’re Cora Goode
Hawthorne here,” he went on.

“Well, I’m kind of Cora Goode, um… Hawthorne
everywhere.”

“No,” his face went ultra serious, “you’re
this
world’s Cora Goode Hawthorne.”

My heart started to feel heavy.

“What?” I whispered.

“I think you understand me.”

“These people know me?”

“You’re Cora Hawthorne,” he explained
without explaining.

“You mean,” I moved closer to him and
whispered, “they know I’m a bitch?”

“No,” he answered.

Oh man!

My heart skipped.

“You mean they know I started the curse?” I
breathed.

He sighed in a way that indicated he was
seeking patience and he replied, “No, Cora, they know you’re a
Hawthorne.”

He pulled back on the reins, Salem stopped
but I felt my brows draw together.

“What does that mean?” I asked but he didn’t
answer.

He swung his leg around, dismounted with
practiced ease then his hands spanned my waist and he pulled me
down and set me between him and Salem.