Sky Pirates (30 page)

Dashwood shook his head. “No, I think it’s probably another abandoned temple. Looks old, though.”

Elle ran her hand over one of the carved lintels. “People lived here,” she said. Seeing evidence of other humans suddenly seemed very strange and incongruous here in the middle of the jungle.

Dashwood cocked his head, listening.

Elle strained to hear too. Alongside the relentless din of jungle noises there seemed to be another sound in the clearing too. She could detect a soft hissing on the periphery of her hearing that had not been there before.

“I think I hear water,” Dashwood said. “It’s this way.” He started walking along, following the sound which grew steadily louder.

They clambered up some steep rocks and stood in awe.

“Would you look at that,” Dashwood said, panting for breath. Before them, a wide waterfall, about fifty feet high, splashed over fat, dark rocks and into a pool that arched out gracefully before them. A fine mist spread out, covering everything in soft coolness.

“Look at all that water,” Elle murmured. At the sight of it, her skin started to itch from the layers of sweat, mud and insect bites that covered her. “And a mango tree!” she exclaimed. To the side of them was a smallish tree, drooping with greenish yellow fruit. “Pass me the knife!”

She ran up to it and pulled the fruit off the tree, using the blade to slice off chunks of mango then biting into the juicy fruit, eating it straight out of the peel.

Dashwood joined her and soon they were both covered in sticky yellow juice.

“I think that’s probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” Elle said, swallowing.

Dashwood did not answer her, for he was too busy stripping off his clothes and boots.

She looked away quickly, only to see his shirt and trousers land on one of the rocks beside her.

“Perhaps—”

She did not manage to finish her sentence because Dashwood gave a loud whoop and ran toward the pool.

“I was going to say perhaps we should check the water for snakes or crocodiles, or deadly rocks first!” she called after him, her back still turned away from the water. “Also, you’re not supposed to swim directly after eating.”

He did not answer. All she could hear were the delicious splashing sounds of someone swimming.

She turned round.

Dashwood was immersed up to his neck in the pool and he was busy scrubbing the dirt from his face and hair with much vigor. She could see the sunlight playing on his broad shoulders and farther down his torso as it refracted under the water.

He stopped washing when he noticed her staring at him.

“Oh, come on, Mrs. Marsh. Are you seriously going to play the prim matron? After all we’ve been through in the last few days?”

She snorted. “I assure you, I am far from prim. In fact, I could probably teach you a thing or two.” She immediately regretted her reply, for out loud it sounded so much more provocative and flirtatious than it did in her head.

“Only one way of finding out,” he called back. “All joking aside, this water is the best thing ever. And there are no snakes or spiders. Not as far as I can see. Just clean, pure water.” He scooped up a handful and drank it down.

She took a step closer. The pool did look very inviting.

Dashwood started laughing at her. “Are you really
that prudish? I promise you, you don’t have anything I’ve not seen before.”

His taunting annoyed her. “Standards are standards, Captain. Without them, we would descend into chaos. Please turn your back until I am in the water.” She started unbuttoning her shirt and tugging at the laces of her corset.

“Are you serious?” he said.

“Yes, absolutely. I don’t want you seeing me and then having all kinds of lascivious thoughts every time you look at me afterward. Especially since I don’t know how long I have to be stuck out here with you. And besides, I am a married woman, so no peeking.”

Dashwood sighed with exaggerated exasperation and turned his back to her, continuing to scrub himself.

Elle pulled the last of her laces free, unpinned her hair and stepped out of her clothes. Using her hands to cover herself as best she could, she gingerly stepped across the rocks and pebbles toward the edge of the pool.

The water was cool at first, but she sank into the pool with a groan of relief. Dashwood had been right—the water was like a soothing balm over her skin. It fizzed and whooshed around her with an energy that replenished her tired body. But Elle was too enthralled by the luxurious feel of the water washing over her to care about any errant Shadow tricks, and with great satisfaction, she ducked her head under the surface, feeling the cool against her face.

“See? Was I lying?” Dashwood said as she emerged. He swam up to her, stopping about a foot away in the water.

“Yes, you were. This is even better than you said.”

She turned away and ducked her head underwater again to rinse the sweat out of her hair.

But something under the surface made her want to open her eyes. Here, the water was flecked with gold
light. It moved and caressed her body with an exquisiteness she had only ever experienced in the Shadow realm.

Was this a place of magic? she wondered as her head broke the surface of the water. She took a deep, cleansing breath to fill her lungs with the cool, rich air.

Shadow and Light be damned
, she thought. Right now she honestly did not care one jot about the two realms and all the problems that surrounded them—all she wanted was to bathe here in this place for as long as she could.

She swam across to the waterfall with slow strokes, her body slipping through the water with a sensuous ease. At the edge, she found a rock that had been worn smooth by the water and carved out into a hollow where she could sit. She ducked her head under the splashing water, allowing it to run over the contours of her body and through her long hair, snaking the auburn tresses in rivulets over her pale breasts. Elle lost all sense of space and time and, for a few exquisite moments, she became one with this place. She stayed under the pounding of the waterfall until her skin could take no more. Slipping out from under the spray, she ducked into the water, down into the colder depths of the pool and up again, her sensitized skin relishing the feel of the sun-warmed surface.

“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” Dashwood said softly.

Elle opened her eyes and found herself face-to-face with him. She had been so caught up in the magic of the water that she had completely forgotten about the fact that this man was here with her. But there he was, his large, warm body in the water next to hers.

She started to say something to rebuke his rather obvious flattery, but something in his expression stopped her.

He was being completely and utterly sincere.

He reached up and ran his hand under her floating hair, admiring its red-gold hue with a reverence which made her ache inside.

She swallowed, suddenly overcome with an irrational and urgent desire for him. “I—” she started saying, but he interrupted her by placing his lips over hers.

The touch of his mouth on hers felt seismic. The shock wave of their connection seemed to come from the water itself, fracturing her inhibitions. All the emotion she had been holding back for so long thundered through her like a tidal wave, ripping away all the careful, protective constructs she had built up inside.

Elle was swept away by the deluge; her only lifeline was the man holding her and she clung to him like a drowning soul.

Somehow they found themselves back on the hollow seat, the cool rock against her back as they touched with warm hands and mouths. Then he was inside her and she welcomed him, opening up to him with an urgency neither of them expected. They moved together, the exquisite friction building until she gasped and they both climaxed with such force that Elle could feel the water vibrate around them.

Afterward, he carried her to a sun-warmed rock where they lay in the golden light until they were dry.

“I don’t really know what to say,” Dashwood murmured. He was lying stretched out behind her, his fingers lazily combing her hair.

“Shh. Don’t say anything. Sometimes it’s better that way,” Elle said softly.

Dashwood kissed the top of her head. “Let’s leave this jungle. Forget about the lost city. Come away with me. We can find another ship. Crew it up and fly. We can go wherever you wish.”

She did not answer.

Dashwood continued, “I know I don’t have his power
or his money, but I can give you a good life, Elle. We are good together, you and I. I’ll even go legitimate, if you ask me to.”

She turned and put her hand against his cheek, where the soft stubble tickled her hand. “Logan, I can’t. I made a vow.”

He sat them both up and he looked at her. “Why not?” She saw the hurt in his eyes that she was causing and she felt her heart break. “He’s gone and your vows ended when he passed over, Elle. You are free to live your life.”

Dashwood was right. The last words Marsh had spoken to her were that he wished for her to live and be happy without him.

And he did not come back for you, even though he knew where you were …
 The thought tore through her.

She reached up and kissed Dashwood again. His hands ran up and over her shoulders to cup her chin. The touch of his fingers sent shivers through her as it had when they were in the water. She felt desire for him stir deep inside her.

She could love this man. She could make the life she had always wanted with him; a ship, the freedom to fly where and when she chose, with someone who saw the world in the same way she did. All of that lay before her, bundled up in the heart that this man had just offered her.

Their kiss ended in a little sob that came from the deepest, most broken part of her heart. How cruel the wyrd-weavers were to finally grant her everything she had ever wished for when it was impossible to accept it.

Dashwood looked at her with concern. “Please don’t cry,” he said.

She shook her head. “It’s not that. You don’t understand. Hugh was the love of my life. I promised to love him forever and now I don’t know what to do.”

Dashwood’s expression grew stern. “I am here and he is not. Does that not tell you everything you need to know?” he said.

“I know,” she said softly. “I need some time to think. To sort things out in my head. It is a very big promise I need to turn away from. Do you think you could wait for me? Even if it is for a little while?”

Dashwood ran his thumb across her cheekbone, rubbing away a few drops of moisture. “I will wait for you,” he said softly, and she could see the sincerity in his eyes.

She put her arms around him and they held each other for a long time, sun-warmed skin on sun-warmed skin. Around them, the jungle hissed and buzzed in time to the rushing pulse of the water at their feet.

Elle felt Dashwood’s muscles tense for a second. “I think we should get dressed.”

Elle lifted her face off his shoulder. “Um, perhaps,” she murmured.

“No, I think we should get dressed right away,” Dashwood said. “We are no longer alone.”

Elle looked over her shoulder and gasped in mortification. On the bank of the waterfall stood a monk dressed in maroon and saffron robes. His head was completely shaven, and in his hand he held a long staff.

“Oh my word,” Elle said as she lifted her knees and tucked her feet close to her body to cover herself.

The monk did not move. He just stood gazing across the pool with a serene calmness that made Elle want to shriek with embarrassment.

“Stay where you are, I’ll get our things,” Dashwood said. He stood up and walked over to collect their clothes, striding along completely naked with apparent nonchalance.

The monk did not bat an eyelid.

Dashwood returned and dropped her things on the
rock beside her. “I will see if I can distract that fellow from staring at your beauty by asking if he can help us,” he said as he pulled his shirt over his head and dragged his jodhpurs on.

Elle dragged her shirt over her head and fumbled with the laces of her corset. All her fingers suddenly felt like they had turned to thumbs, but she managed to get into her clothes eventually.

She was busy lacing up her boots when Dashwood strode over with the monk in tow.

“Elle, this is Hari. He speaks French.”

“Bonjour,” Elle said.

“Bonjour, Madame.” The monk bowed. His expression gave absolutely no indication that he had witnessed them in a most intimate of moments just minutes before. For that, Elle was so deeply grateful she almost hugged him.

“He says we have been swimming in a sacred spring,” Dashwood said. “There is a temple at the top of this hill.”

The monk nodded and pointed toward some rocks that were just visible in the water. “The sacred springs. Carvings of the lingam and yoni. Man part and woman parts,” he said, gesturing at the geometric designs, “bring power to the water. Make it strong, fertile for the people.”

Elle stood up and peered at the rocks he had pointed out. They were indeed carved in fine bas-relief. “Hold on, are those …?” She felt herself blush as she suddenly recognized the rather obvious phallic shapes of half the carvings. They had simply felt like smooth, round rocks underfoot before.

“I think they are. There are a thousand of them carved in the river around here, if I understand Hari correctly,” Dashwood said.

“Very strong energy. ’Specially for someone with the
special energy inside them, like you,” Hari said in his broken French. One corner of his mouth curled up slightly in a ghost of a knowing smile.

Dashwood started laughing. “It certainly was that, my friend,” he said, giving the monk a hearty pat on his shoulder.

Elle felt herself turn crimson with mortification.

“Say, is there any way you can tell us where we might find food and transport?” Elle said, pointedly changing the subject. “Perhaps the nearest town?”

Hari nodded. “We go to the temple. They give you food and place to sleep. Show you way to the village of Siem Riep. Lots of people there. And airships. People who speak English.”

Elle felt her eyes fill with tears of relief. There would be no more being lost among snakes and spiders and other horrible things.