The Black Wolf's Mark (6 page)

Chapter 17

04:04 pm

“Where
are you going?” Murad questions as he stares at the cavern opening and sees Zidane is standing, covering his body in a long black cape.

“I need to see someone,” he answers as he is fitting the fabrics to his left fist.

“You cannot return to live together with people!” Murad insists annoyed.

However
, Zidane remains resolute at his plan.

“I need to know if that person is well.”

He turns his back and walks out of the cavern.

“I’ll come
back soon.”

Murad runs to the opening and sees the boy walking towards the forest, then his squeal echoes among the trees.

“Take care! And don’t permit them to see you!”

Zidane, even from the back, raises his hand and waves goodbye to the old man that still observes him going away.

***

He walks through a mount and stops in front of a landscape below him where he sees the entire village.

That is, houses, people passing through there, animals in the pasture and some children playing in an area in the fresh air.

Then his gaze runs in the direction of Norton’s house and he tries to approach more and more, but before that, he takes care of himself and puts his hood on his head.

The young boy walks slowly among more than a few people and he stops between two houses that are from the other side of Norton’s house. A few minutes later, he sees two women that are leaving their homes.

Amarilis is walking beside her aunt and her arm is leaning on Lyra’s arm.

Zidane tries to hide behind the wall of a house for fear that Lyra might see him there. But his gaze is still fixed on Amarilis’s image, as usual in her long dark dress.

The girl stops walking as soon as she glances to her right and says, “I
know this smell.”

Lyra stares at the face of her niece and asks, “
What smell Amarilis?”

“He’s
close by,” Amarilis says in a low voice so Lyra cannot hear. “He’s here.”

The young witch glances at all sides and up and down and her agitation is clear to Zidane, and he knows she feels he’s near.

At that moment he gazes at the witch once more and then he runs to the back of the house and goes away from the village.

11:45 pm

The yellow fire grows more and more at the same time as Zidane puts little by little some firewood pieces on it. Thereupon, he sits on top of a rock and Murad is already seated on the other side of the bonfire facing Zidane.

“You’re silent today.”

The old man says as he sees the boy’s downcast face.

“Didn’t you get to see who you wanted to see?”

“Yes, I did,” the boy answers as he looks at the ground and then back at the reddish fire.

“From a great
distance.”

“Do you mean you didn’t like what you saw?”

“I need to go to that village again.”

“You cannot run the risk of going back even for a person.”

“I need to talk to her.” Zidane says looking into the old man’s eyes.

“You are risking your life too much and it’s all for a skirt tail.

“I’ll go back to that place − even if that is the last thing I’ll do in my life.”

Murad observes the boy’s countenance and he stays silent as soon as he realises that his good advice won’t change the mind of the bewitched boy.

Chapter 18

09:20pm

The village is having a feast
to celebrate the birth of a child in the village.

Women are dancing and a greater number of men are toasting and drinking with their wine mugs.

Zidane approaches the village, hidden in his black cape and his hood over his face, impeding people from recognizing him.

He walks directly among some people and later on he sees Norton together with some men and women.  On other side he sees Mrs. Lyra is helping the women serve up.

However, his search continues incessantly because who he wishes to see is not there among those people.

09: 54 pm

Amarilis comes out of her home and she walks through the village avenue in the direction of the feast in the open air. A small gasp comes out of her mouth when she feels somebody holding her arm and pulling her with brutality in the direction of the back of a house.

She feels herself being pressed against a hard wall, coerced by the brute strength of the individual that holds her lips, for she doesn’t shout again to attract people there.

The young witch feels that the stranger’s hand is removed from her mouth and she has the liberty to say something.

“It’s you!” Her hands touch the boy’s face that is hidden in a black hood.

He also holds her face with his hands and smiles happily at her.

“I felt you were alive,” she continues saying while her white eyes move from side to side.

“I needed to see you.” His face comes close to hers. “You needed to know I am alive.”

“But you cannot stay here! They think you are dead.”

“I know.” He gazes at her with tenderness.

“You cannot come back here, they’ll kill you!”

“I’ll not come back here again.  I just needed to see you once more.”

His fingers trace the contour of the blind woman’s face.

“You cannot come to me, but I can come to you.”

Amarilis says and Zidane is stunned at the girl’s insinuation, because she also wishes to meet with him another time.  However, he shakes his head when his common sense takes over his mind again.

“No, that’s dangerous for you.”

“But I want to run that risk.”

“No, Amarilis, you cannot go after me alone.”

“Is it only because I am blind?” she compresses her lips, sulky.
“I know the forest very well.”

“It’s
not only the forest that offers risks to you.” His eyes run through her beautiful pair of breasts and go up in the direction of her neck and stop at her luscious mouth.

“Soon I’ll be an
indomitable beast.”

“You’re not able to do me any harm, I can feel that.”

And both of them shut up when they listen to Lyra’s voice shouting. “Amarilis!”

“I have to go,” she says desperately.

Zidane passes his forefinger over his own mouth and after that he passes his forefinger lightly over Amarilis’s lips saying farewell to her through his affectionate gesture.

She remains still and he leans his nose against hers and says in a low voice,

“I’ll be in the forest tomorrow afternoon.”  Then he separates himself from the young woman and says again, “Meet me there.”

Another shout echoes on the other side of the house. “Amarilis!”

The lass smiles and goes running behind the house as she keeps her body on the house wall trying to go in a hurry to her aunt.

Chapter 19

03:00 pm

Zidane puts his hand over the trunk of a tree and he walks round the tree several times, due to his anxiety that consumes him as he awaits Amarilis’s arrival there. For an instant he looks down at the ground and he thinks she won’t come to the meeting.

Exactly a second later, he hears somebody approaching and when he glances over his right shoulder, he sees the lass walking with her hands over the tree trunks.

The boy runs in the direction of the lass and hugs her strongly. Amarilis rests her head on his chest and her delicate hand moves to the boy’s back.  She feels the fear of losing him and he also feels the same while he smells her long black hair.

But both remain silent for some time and only their bodies communicate with each other through their skin, their warmth and their hands.

“If I could, I would spend my entire life this way with you.” He says, pressing her more and more in his arms.

Amarilis remains silent and passes her hands lightly over the boy’s ruddy back.

Over the immense ground that is covered with dry leaves, they lie down, both of them are side by side and their hands are united. At the same time they gaze up at the sky above them.

“I am able to see you.” Amarilis confesses and her fingers touch Zidane’s fingers.

The boy turns and moves over her body looking into her eyes, even though they are entirely blind. 

“Wow! How do I look?” He asks gluing his forehead to hers.

She shrinks her shoulders as a shudder goes through her body.

“Your skin is ruddy, your hair is black and your eyes are dark.”

“I’m exactly like you described me,” the boy confesses. Then his mouth moves further down and meets the lass’s virgin lips. And Amarilis, even though she is blind, closes her eyes to clearly feel his lips against hers.  And her body receives a heat wave, fear, dread and desire.

One of Zidane’s hands passes lightly over the virgin’s shoulder and his fingers stop over the advantageous breast of his belle and cups it. His desire for her is amplified in his attempt to possess her completely.

His lips separate from hers and he says with his heavy breath, “I think that it’s better we stop here. I don’t want to frighten you.”

The boy turns to the side and sits on the ground. His hands are leaning on the ground. He throws his head back and his nape reaches part of his back. Amarilis remains on the ground with her belly up and her own hands touching her breasts and her thoughts remember again the sensations of the kiss she ended up getting. She also thinks to herself that she was going to die without knowing the real taste of a kiss, but Zidane came into her life in time and he gave her that fabulous experience.

“It’s late,” Zidane says at the same time as he gazes at the ashen sky. “You need to go back to your village.”

“Let me stay a little longer.”

“No, Amarilis, I think of your safety.”

The boy stands up in a hurry and puts his hands around Amarilis’s waist and pulls her up, and again their faces are so close.

She runs her hands over his face and asks him, “Will we see each other again?”

He glances at both sides as if he was being hunted and gazes at her face and answers with caution, “I
don’t know.”

She hugs him strongly. “I
need you.”

“It’s quite a risk,” he murmurs throwing his head back.

“I need you beside me.”

“Please, Amarilis don’t insist. It’s for your own good.”

“My good isn’t in living away from you.”

“Go, before night arrives!” he orders and pulls his arms from her waist.

Amarilis looks lost and confused and then Zidane holds her delicate face with his hands and confesses to her, “I would never forgive myself if something terrible happened to you.”

He kisses her again on her lips, a goodbye kiss that slows for an instant where they have no time to move their tongues.

Then, Amarilis receives another kiss on her forehead and her hand separates from his with slowness, and the blind girl returns home, following the same path she used to get to the place of her love.