The Second God (17 page)

Then we all bathed in the lake. At Ly’s suggestion, we split up so that we could contemplate our future or some such without distractions. For myself, I was done with contemplating the future. It would bring what it would bring, and that was that. Ly walked round the rocky northern shore while Arran took the tree-shaded southern side. I stayed on our little beach near the camp.

The water was warm and soothing. Once I was fully immersed, I realised that it had its own magic, stronger than the hint I’d felt in the air. I ducked my head beneath the surface. Yes! It was even stronger that way, and to my astonishment, there seemed to be a source, a focal point from which all the magic emanated. It was hard to detect, because Ly’s power loomed over everything, but I was sure of it.

I stood up, waded a little deeper, ducked under again. Stronger, just a little. But it was far out in the water, and I was going to have to swim. I’d grown up beside a river, but it was a long time since I’d swum out of my depth. Cautiously, I tried a few strokes, and it all came back to me. With greater confidence, I swam towards the centre of the lake, then dived down and opened my eyes.

It was hard to say what I’d expected to find, but this wasn’t it. I couldn’t even see the bottom, it had dropped away so fast. There below me was darkness unfathomably deep, stretching away into the distance, perhaps into the very roots of the land. And away at the bottom, far below me, a tiny glowing sphere filled with – surely not! Buildings? A whole city at the bottom of this watery cleft, and perhaps there were even people down there, or other creatures beyond my imagination.

That was too strange for me. I’d travelled a bit, and I’d visited countless other lands in my imagination, through the window of books, learning of the incredible array of life on our continent, and all the things people had done over the vast spread of history. But a city under water? My mind couldn’t cope with that. So I surfaced and swam slowly back to my beach, where I washed myself as best I could with the nub of soap, all that was left after my amateurish attempts at laundering. Then I climbed out onto a rock and wrapped myself in a blanket. I don’t really know why I felt any modesty, for both men had seen everything before, but somehow it seemed odd to be naked in the open air.

Arran had no such inhibitions, for he strolled back along the water’s edge as naked as the moment he’d arrived in the world, although somewhat better proportioned. He sat beside me, quite unembarrassed, his feet trailing in the water.

“Enjoy your swim, sweetheart?”

“I did, yes.” Perhaps I should have told him about the city under the lake, in the spirit of not having any secrets, but I was still too flummoxed. And at the back of my mind was the thought that we shouldn’t waste these last few hours as
ourselves
by talking about something so bizarre. So I said nothing, snuggling beside him, while he wrapped a strong arm around me and held me tight.

Ly, it seemed, was shyer than Arran, for he stayed on the far side of the lake to dry off, and returned fully dressed.

“Are you both still willing to go ahead?” he said, his eyes large in his thin face.

I nodded.

“Yes,” Arran said.

A slight smile crossed Ly’s face. “Excellent. It is almost time. Let us do this!”

There was no special place for the ceremony. We just stood in a little circle near the lake, with the eagles gliding overhead. There was no mysticism, no ritual, no special clothes or words. Just the three of us and a fearsome looking knife, Ly’s hunting knife, which he’d purified in the fire and then in the lake.

“We must cut across the hand – so. That way, you will not damage any important muscles. We all cut the same hand, then we clasp hands and kiss for a count of ten, first me and Drina, then Drina and Arran, and finally Arran and me.”

“Kiss?” Arran said.

“Yes. For a count of ten. Arran, you may choose which hand it will be – left or right.”

“Why me?”

“Because you use both sword and bow. Whichever hand is cut will be unusable for several sun-crossings at least, and there is a risk of permanent damage. Drina uses no weapon, and I seldom need my bow. So you should be the one to choose.”

“Then make it the left hand. I would hate to lose the use of my sword hand.”

“It shall be so. Are you ready? Then let us start.”

He drew the knife sharply across his hand, with a little “Oh!” of pain. Blood gushed like a spring, and trickled over his outstretched palm. He exhaled sharply, then, with a slight grimace, passed the knife to me. “Be quick, but remember where I showed you to cut.”

He was breathing hard, and for the first time, I realised that this was going to hurt. A lot. I took a deep breath, and then another. But the pain in Ly’s eyes drove me on. I inhaled, exhaled slowly, then slashed my hand.

Agony speared through me, fast and intense. I gave a little squeal, almost dropping the knife. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to stop the tears that welled up there.

Ly’s voice cut through the haze of pain. “Pass the knife to Arran. Good. Now place your hand on mine, like this. And use your other hand to press it, hard. Very good. Now we kiss.”

It was the last thing I felt like doing. The pressure on my hand drove every thought from my head except to stop the searing pain. I would have done anything to ease it, but getting this ceremony over as fast as possible seemed to be the best way to achieve that. So I leaned closer to Ly, and, hands firmly clamped together, we kissed. And oddly enough, it helped, if only as a distraction.

I forgot to count to ten, but Ly pulled away with a shaky laugh. “There! Now Arran’s turn.”

Arran was braver than I, for without hesitation he drew the knife straight across his hand, with only a sharply drawn breath as he felt it slice into his flesh.

“Give me the knife,” Ly said. “Now you two clasp hands the same way, and kiss.”

Somehow it was easier this time, perhaps because it was my beloved Arran, and kissing him was as natural as breathing. We got so into the spirit of it that Ly had to tell us to break apart.

“Drina, take the knife. And now you and me,” Ly said to Arran.

“We have to kiss?” Arran said.

“Yes.”

Again, there was no hesitation. Arran nodded, positioned his hands and leaned into the kiss. He didn’t try to cut it short, either, and again it was Ly who pulled away, laughing.

“There! All done,” he said, a smile lighting up his face. “Rinse your hands in the lake, and I will salve and bandage them.”

“That’s it?” Arran said, with a sigh of relief. “That was… not so bad as I’d feared.”

“Even kissing Ly?” I said.

He chuckled. “Even that. He is rather a good kisser.”

“He certainly is,” I said, smiling at both of them.

Ly beamed with delight.

~~~~~

Arran and I sat in the cave, our backs to the cool wall, savouring the shade. He was half-dozing in the afternoon warmth, his bound hand resting on one knee, palm up. Outside, Ly was humming as he prepared our feast. Drifts of smoke and pungent aromas tickled my senses, making my mouth water. My hand throbbed, but the salve had soothed away the worst of the pain.

Now that it was over, I wasn’t sure what I felt. Relieved, yes. Nothing terrible had happened to Arran, and we both seemed to be our usual selves, if a little subdued. And yet… maybe it was my imagination, but I felt different. There was a warmth in me that wasn’t entirely due to the weather. I had Ly’s blood in me now, the blood of a
byan shar
, not just his seed. When we’d first coupled, I’d felt the warmth deep in my belly, but what I was feeling now was less concentrated, more spread out. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine his blood moving round my body, changing me. Fanciful, perhaps, but there was truth in it. And what would I be changed into?

Before long, the first of Ly’s dishes was ready, and we began the feast. I loved seeing Ly happy like this, scampering back and forth to the fire, presenting us with one treat after another, then sitting cross-legged in front of us while we tried each one and declared it delicious. And they were all delicious. Game birds stuffed with herbs and berries, fish glazed with honey, rodent meat coated with a spicy sauce, mushrooms cooked with wild garlic and crushed nuts – it was all wonderful. If I could have had a glass of wine, and my hand healed, and felt less strange, it would have been perfect.

As the sun slowly slid down the sky, I began to lose interest in the food. What was the matter with me? My head seemed to be stuffed full of thoughts and strange bursts of emotion and oddly disconnected things. Mushrooms, I kept imagining mushrooms. And rodents. Oak trees. Why was I thinking of oak trees?

“Princess?” Ly’s voice dragged me back to awareness. I was lying on my side, the sand grainy against my cheek, although I couldn’t remember falling over. “Here, rest your head on this.”

He gently lifted my head and slid a folded blanket under it. Gratefully I lay down on the soft surface, and drifted away again.

~~~~~

I woke at dusk feeling energised, more alive than I’d been for some time. Pushing myself upright, I found Ly smiling at me, his face so close I could feel his breath on my cheek.

“Better now?” he said.

“Yes! Much better. What happened?”

“My blood is very powerful, and absorbing it strains the body. But you have got past that successfully. You will be fine now.”

A surge of fear. “Arran…?”

“Sleeping, still, but he will wake soon.”

“He’ll be all right, though?”

Ly nodded. “This is the most difficult stage. Those who cannot accept the power fall into fits and do not recover. That has not happened with Arran, so I am optimistic. Will you watch him while I finish cleaning up? He should not wake alone. It must be very confusing.”

It seemed a long time before Arran finally began to stir, and even then he was groggy for some time before he recovered fully.

Ly came bouncing back, with a wide smile. “Ah, excellent! Now we can go to bed.”

“I’m really not tired,” I said.

“You may not feel tired, but you should rest, even if you do not wish to sleep any more.”

“Well, I’m glad I woke up in time for bed,” Arran said, making me laugh.

I jumped up and pulled Arran to his feet, too. “Come on, then. Our first night in the shelter.”

At Ly’s suggestion, we undressed down to our undershirts, for it was still warm outside. He’d put a layer of springy heather over the rough wood of the platform, and a blanket over that, which made an acceptable mattress. Another blanket, rolled up, was a pillow wide enough for all three of us. Then the final blanket demurely covering us all.

I was in the middle, my two men either side of me. Lying on my back, I gazed up at the roof but it was too dark inside to make out the individual poles. Here and there, chinks of light showed through.

“If it rains, we’ll get wet,” I said, to no one in particular.

Arran chuckled, but Ly answered solemnly, “I will patch it in the morning.”

We fell silent. I reached out my mind to Sunshine, but she was already asleep. Then I stretched out my senses to the other eagles – Diamond was still awake, and his mind registered a little burst of happiness when I made contact. Midnight I couldn’t detect, but he was probably asleep too. There were several others – some of the Bennamore eagles had flown home, but we’d acquired a number of wild eagles lately – but their minds were less open to me. Beside me, Ly’s magic was a constant presence in my awareness.

After a while, Arran shifted position. “So we just go to sleep? We need not… do anything?”

“You mean sex?” Ly said. “Many blood-bonded would choose to celebrate the occasion in that way, but it is not obligatory.”

“Oh.”

Another long silence. My thoughts began to wander back to Bennamore. I hadn’t thought much about home for a while, being occupied with my own fears and concerns, but now that was all over, I wondered how things were going. The golden army at Rinnfarr Gap, for instance, and whether Lathran had managed to infiltrate Greenstone Ford. Then I thought of the children – would Arrynyor have another tooth by now? And when would I ever get back there to find out? Yet somehow, I felt very detached from Kingswell. I was far away, and it would sail on without me, just as it had done for hundreds of years.

Arran rolled onto his side. “I think… I should like to celebrate.”

Ly propped himself up on one elbow. “Do you want some time with Drina? I can disappear for a while, or… or turn my back?”

“Actually, I was thinking of
you
,” Arran said. “I should very much like another kiss, if you are willing. And if Drina has no objection.”

“Oh, feel free,” I said, trying not to laugh.

“I should like that very much,” Ly said, surprise in his voice.

I scrambled over Arran so that he was in the middle. Immediately, the two fell on each other, Arran’s blond hair mingled with Ly’s dark curls. It should have felt odd, perhaps, to watch my two men entwined like that, but laughter bubbled up in me. After all Arran’s protestations about sharing a bed, here he was taking advantage of the situation in the most unexpected way. At least, I would never have expected it. He’d never shown the least sign before of that kind of interest in men. But then, he’d been in the very male-dominated Elite, and who knew what went on in their barracks at night?

They showed no sign of breaking apart. There was a point where they clearly moved on from a simple kiss to something more passionate. Hands began to wander, legs became entwined and one of them uttered a little groan.

Ly pushed Arran onto his back. It was pretty dark in the shelter by now, but I could just see the gleam in their eyes, and I’m fairly sure they were both grinning. Ly started stroking and touching and kissing, first Arran’s broad chest and then gradually working his way down. I was getting fired up myself by then, so I entertained Arran in my own way, and before I knew it we were all tangled up together.

Gods, but we had fun that night! I don’t know which of us was most on fire, but we were all well into the spirit of the thing, with nothing held back. Whether it was the magic in our blood, or we were getting our energy more directly from Ly, I couldn’t say, but we went on for hours, and I’ve never been as exhilarated as that without a lot of magic.

The sun was well above the horizon before we quietened down, curled up in a heap like moundrat pups, and gently drifted into a contented sleep.

~~~~~

I’d imagined that the effects of Ly’s blood would show themselves slowly, over the whole moon of our bonding camp. But as soon as I woke, I knew I was wrong. It was as if the whole world had shifted very slightly overnight, so that it was essentially the same, and yet unutterably different. There were scents and colours and an awareness of every living creature that I’d never had before. It was hazy, but there was so much out there that I wanted to explore.

Closing my eyes again, I let my mind reach out. And the first thing it encountered, faint but sure, was Arran. He was right beside me, still slumbering, and if I’d rolled over I could have reached out to stroke his face. Instead I touched him with my mind, so delicately that I wouldn’t wake him. I could detect his consciousness now, just as I could the eagles or Ly. Ah, where was Ly?

There he was, not far away, near the fire. His magic blazed as fiery as ever, but his mind was open to me as well. I detected a deep contentment in him, but also a little pain. His hand was still sore. I reached out to make contact with him. He responded with a fizz of excitement, mingled with amusement.

“Good morning, Princess.”
The words were in my head as clearly as if he’d spoken them.

“Good morning. Is the brew ready yet?”

Stronger amusement.
“It has been ready for some time. Arran?”

“Still asleep.”

“Will you not come and join me? I am on the far side of the fire.”

“I know where you are.”

That brought another burst of amusement. I slipped on my clothes and edged past Arran’s recumbent form. He was lying on his side, one arm stretched above his head, the other sprawled out in front of him. His hair was tousled and I had a sudden urge to run my hands through it, and kiss him hard. But perhaps we’d done enough of that for a few hours.

I ignored the ladder, which was rough and splintery, and jumped down to the sand below. I found Ly crouched beside the fire, feeding it wood. He was right, the brew had been steeping for hours, so it was thick and bitter. I didn’t mind, as long as it was hot.