The Awakening (12 page)

“Yes it is, and I suppose that I did. But I truly cannot imagine it. What a catastrophe that would be. We are so vulnerable. And we never realized it before. It would not even require an army to conquer us,” she said, looking at them with sadness now rather than terror in her eyes. “The sooner we reach the Pass, the better. We should not waste any more time lingering here. Our only hope is to do what the Lalas advises, and seek whatever it is we need find in the Caves.”

“Then let us be off. We have much to do, it seems.” Clovis asserted, always the practical warrior.

“Yes, let us ride,” the Princess concluded as she mounted Shira and spurred her lightly forward. “The sooner we reach the Pass the better, if this weather persists. And, I fear that it will,” she said, eyeing the sky.

The other two followed behind, saying nothing, contemplating all along the horrible fate that could befall their people if they were unsuccessful in their quest. With each puddle that they leapt over and each rivulet that appeared before them, they rode with a new urgency, a desperate need driving them unremittingly forward.

Chapter Sixteen

“Is that you my darling?” Aramela asked from behind the entryway, her words hushed and breathless. “I have been waiting for you to come. You should never have left me alone for so long,” the brown haired maiden said through the crack in the door.

“It is I, dearest,” Ruffin replied with his heart in his mouth. “Let me in. I am cold and wet, and I have been traveling all night.”

She pushed the door open just enough to allow the dirtied elf to enter, and then she quickly backed away into the dark of the room.

“Is your father awake, my love? I do not want to disturb his sleep,” he asked, not wanting to see the stoic elf who disapproved of him so.

“He will not awaken. Have no fear. I slipped something into his cider in anticipation, my darling. He sleeps soundly,” she replied from the shadows.

“Will you not light a candle so that I may gaze upon you?” he asked.

“You know how shy I am, my love. We need no light to sanctify our union, Ruffin. Come to me,” she said to him seductively.

He needed no coaxing in order to approach the maiden. The bespattered elf, ragged and dirty, walked quickly toward the voice of his lover and embraced her with abandon. She led him to the sleeping pallet and lay with him upon it. He gave of himself completely to her embrace, losing himself entirely and totally in her passionate clasp. Aramela was so fervent in her lovemaking, he almost did not recognize her, but the soft and soothing voice in the darkness reassured him, coaxing him and comforting him.

“I will never leave you again, my love,” he said to her fiercely, holding her against him as tightly as possible. “I shall not return to Seramour. We will leave together. You and I. We will make a home for ourselves in the hills, and have babies and raise them without anyone’s interference,” he said, dreaming of the future.

The crazed elf had forgotten all about the heinous crimes he had committed. He did not remember the dead he left behind, including his own mother. His mind was no longer his own to control. A part of it was lost forever and the remainder was soon about to be stolen too.

“Speak to me Aramela. I want to hear your voice. Light the candle for me. I cannot remember your beautiful face.”

“In time, my darling. In time. Lay with me a while longer still. Hold me tight. Kiss me, my love,” she pleaded, her voice soft and enticing.

Ruffin wrapped his tired arms around his lover, and embraced her fully and completely once more. He could feel her arms across his back, so strong, yet so gentle. She held him for so long, it seemed as if she was merging with him, becoming one with him. The physical lines that separated them appeared to fade and he truly thought he felt her mind enter his very own. At first, the sensation was exhilarating and exciting. The renegade elf felt a closeness to another that he had never felt before and he accepted the sensation fervently.

Soon though, he began to recoil from Aramela’s touch as it went deeper and deeper into his mind. Shocked and confused, he began to feel helpless, unable to control what was happening. Suddenly, it was as if he were tied to the floor and someone was ravaging his mind and body freely, without his having the ability to resist. He tried to protest, but no words would issue forth from his mouth.

He attempted to rise, to stand up, but he could not, as if something very powerful restrained his limbs. He opened his eyes wide, trying desperately now to see through the darkness of the night, but his eyes were met with only the vague outlines of his lover and nothing more. Her lips were fastened tightly upon his own, drawing all of the air from within his lungs, and he could barely breathe himself. He began to panic and he thought he was going to pass out. Ruffin thrashed his legs about, trying vainly to throw Aramela off of him, but she was too heavy and he was too weak.

He felt someone in his mind, examining it, pilfering it of the secrets and hidden thoughts that belonged to no one but himself. The knowledge that he possessed, however meager, was flying from his consciousness into another’s. He saw glimpses of his past; scenes from his childhood played before his mind’s eye. His whole life was being exposed and he could not control it at all. Finally, the death of his mother, the killing of the guard and his escape from Seramour flashed by, as if he was reliving the experiences in their horrendous entirety.

He wept, realizing perhaps for the first time the evil that he had committed, but fear overwhelmed him nonetheless, leaving him little room for regret. Even his love Aramela, had turned against him and she hated him.

Why else would she be trying to suffocate me?
Exhausted and spent, he made one last effort to free himself. He groped her back, searching for the long braid that she always wore, but he could not locate it in the darkness. With his fingers spread wide, he grabbed her hair, surprised at its feel as it was coarse and short, not long and silky as before, and he yanked her head back violently, exposing his nose and mouth to the air once again. He gasped urgently for breath before he swooned from the lack thereof. Aramela hit him hard across the face, and he felt his cheek split from the attack and sensed the blood dripping down it. She lay heavily upon him, not allowing him to move at all, her strength much greater than he ever expected.

His lover fastened her lips once again to his own and he no longer perceived it as an act of passion, but one of defilement. He could not understand what she was doing, why she was virtually sucking the very life out of him, but that is what it felt like. Just before he lost consciousness, he heard a voice he did not recognize speak only inches from his face.

“What a pity you will not live to service me again,” it spoke. “I rather enjoyed your measly efforts,” she spit, watching his reaction, teasing him, gauging just how far to push.

Ruffin could not conceive of how someone else could have gotten into the cabin, close enough to speak in a hushed voice and yet still be heard. He did not know the voice, but it chilled him to the bone. There was no life in it, no spirit. It hissed as it spoke, and it was not the voice of his lover, Aramela.

“Aramela? Aramela?” he pleaded. “What have you done to her?”

“There is no Aramela, fool. I am your lover now. And being the good boy that you are, you gave me all that I desired. Aramela is dead. She died in the arms of another man. Even she betrayed you,”

“You are lying. Who are you? She would never betray me. She loved me,” he sobbed at his wits end, total despair enveloping him, his very soul vanquished by her words.

“There is only one person who truly loves you, Ruffin. Only one. He will comfort you. He will succor you. He will give you all that you desire,” she responded, her voice now soothing and seductive.

She had lead him to the precipice, pushed him to the very edge and now she was going to slowly bring him back.

“Let me go. No one can help me. I have killed my own mother!” he screamed, as if only now aware of his crime.

“He will understand. You were compelled to do it. You were not being treated fairly. She deserved it,” the voice hissed in response, offering him solace and refuge.

Ruffin sobbed and sobbed. He discovered that he could move his limbs once again, and he drew his knees into his chest and retreated against the wall, curled up like a baby. A soft hand fondled his hair and at first he cringed at the touch. Soon, he relaxed and allowed the strange woman to comfort him. She petted him as if he was a small dog, and she spoke soothing words of reassurance.

“You have never been appreciated before. No one saw you for what you really are. It must have been so frustrating for you, so demeaning, having to hear your mother criticize you incessantly, and not being allowed to leave. How could anyone expect a strong young elf like you to accept such restrictions without the ability to complain. She was stealing your manhood, your pride. And, how could that selfish King have been so cruel to you, so uncaring? What were you to him? Nothing. A worker. A commodity. No more. He would have wasted your life without even a thought,” she continued. “You only did what you had to do. You showed courage, no less. It was not easy to escape from Seramour.”

A dismal glow emanated from the area around the voice. As it grew in intensity, Ruffin could see the woman more clearly and he was surprised at just how beautiful she appeared to him. She was nothing like Aramela, but he remembered how passionately she had held him just moments before. His mind was not wholly sound, but he still maintained the sensibility that he controlled his own actions. She sat by him now, the only source of consolation and comfort he had experienced in a long while, and he succumbed to her caresses.

“Come with me,” she said to him, almost as an afterthought. “I will protect you. No one will ever be able to hurt you or take advantage of you again,” she cooed.

It was essential that he go willingly, if she hoped to gamer his full cooperation. With his consent, she could completely take over his mind and body and it would not wear out from the experience. If he resisted now, he would always resist, and that reticence would eat him up physically, reducing the span of time that she could manipulate him. She knew that if he accepted her advances and consented freely, then he would be hers to command for as long as he lived.

His thoughts kept slipping back to Aramela, his one love, and susceptible and tired as he was, he could not rid himself of the lingering memory of her.

“Where is Aramela? What has happened to her?” he asked, shy, trusting.

“You do not wish to know, Ruffin. It would hurt you so, she was so untrue,” she replied in a voice dripping with sincerity.

“I must know. She loved me. I loved her. She would not betray me,” he said, though doubt clearly suffused his tone.

Adrianna feigned reluctance so well that it seemed as if Ruffin virtually had to force the information from her. She wished only not to hurt him, it seemed.

“Please,” he implored “Tell me what you know. I will do anything that you ask. Anything. Just tell me,”

He had crossed the narrow line between fear and trust, and the renegade elf gave of his soul completely and willingly to Adrianna. In exchange for a few simple words of explanation and the promise of comfort and security everlasting, he surrendered what yet remained of his pathetic self. Adrianna sealed his fate with lies and deception, but he was too far gone to discern her methods.

“I knew of your sad and unfair travails in Seramour, and I came here to offer my help,” she began, though she never explained to him the incongruity of her words, or how she came upon her knowledge.

Ruffin never asked her how or questioned her either, he was content to hear what she had to say. His mind was so thoroughly clouded that somehow what she said all made sense to him and he accepted it without question.

“I knew you would try to reach Aramela, and I therefor sought to inform her of your troubles in advance. If she was prepared, perhaps she could assist you more quickly. I was afraid that they would come after you and try to bring you back to the Heights,” she continued. “But when I knocked upon her cabin door, no one answered. It was late at night and I did not wish to frighten them and raise an alarm, so I went around to her window in the back and I gently pushed it open.”

Adrianna turned away at that point, as if what she was about to relate to him was too difficult for her to do while staring upon his face.

“Go on, please. I need to know,” he said, his eyes were now riveted upon her, though his mind was fuzzy and his thoughts muddled and confused.

His mouth felt as if he had cotton stuffed inside it, but she seemed to understand his words as he spoke them.

“Would that I could spare you this tale, but if you insist, I will do as you ask,” she said to him, eyes on the ground as if reluctant to go on further with her description of the events.

“What else could be said that would hurt me more deeply than her betrayal has? I loved her. My heart is pierced already. Go on. Tell me the worst,” he pleaded.

Adrianna sat down before him and took both his dirty hands in her own. She looked deeply into his tired eyes, gleefully recognized the surrender therein, the total abdication of his own will, and she then sealed his fate with one final, horrifying lie. She whispered to him in the sweetest and most understanding voice.

“I pushed the window open slowly so as not to disturb her if she was sleeping, or frighten dear Aramela unnecessarily if she were still awake. A small candle was burning almost to the quick in the far corner and the meager light it cast illuminated only a tiny portion of the room. Alas, it was enough for me to witness more than I wished to see.”

Once more, Adrianna cast her glance to the ground and hesitated for just the right amount of time to maximize the theatrical tension she created. A moment later she raised her chin and opened her eyes wide. She captured and held his gaze with her own, intense black eyes.

“Your lover lay naked in the arms of another,” she said whispered. “At first, I thought that perhaps you had arrived sooner than I expected, and I was about to withdraw before anyone noticed my presence.”

She paused again, loath to continue, it seemed.

“Go on,” Ruffin said, suffering. He could not now conceive that this sincere woman who cared so much about him would ever lie.

Adrianna bent her head dramatically and turned her saddened face to the side. She sat in silence for a moment, which seemed like an eternity to the disquieted elf. Suddenly without warning, she spat the horrid words out.

“The man in her arms was her father,” she hissed.

Ruffin collapsed upon himself, nauseated by the revelation. He could no longer control his emotions at all, and Adrianna rushed to his aide. She embraced him with the tenderness of a mother and the affection of a lover.

“I killed them both,” she whispered. “I could not look upon either of their faces for another moment.”

“Matricide. Incest. Murder. What more can befall me?” he wrung his hands.

“No more, Ruffin. No harm will come to you any longer. Come. Let us be gone from these depraved woods,” she urged him now. “We will travel to my Lord, to Sedahar. There you will be safe from all harm. Come. Come,” she insisted as she helped the tired elf to his feet.