Maia had collapsed on top of Taurus-his softened organ still partly inside her. Although she"d become aware of her now cold back, she couldn"t make herself move until he started to lift her off him. She rolled to her side next to him and propped herself up on one arm. He was looking at her with the strangest expression-something akin to the look on her youngest brother"s face the first time he"d seen an eclipse of the moon.
"I may have died and gone to heaven," he muttered.
"No." She gasped, alarmed. "You are very much alive."
"Figure of speech. Besides, you"re absolutely right. I couldn"t possibly feel more alive. Lady, I don"t know who the h.e.l.l you are or what we"re doing together, but thank you-thank you very much."
What we are doing together? The question reverberated in Maia and reminded her that she hadn"t just been sent here to mate with Taurus, but to bring him back with her.
Afraid too much time had pa.s.sed, she scrambled to her feet and slipped on her gown. She fastened the dagger around her waist, then grabbed Taurus" hand and tried to pull him up.
"Wait a minute," he protested. He tried to pull her back down, something she was tempted to let him do. "What are you in a hurry about? Look..." His amused expression turned to one of concern. "You"re not leaving, are you?"
"Yes. I must."
She pulled again, this time succeeding in getting him to stand. He reached for her, but she ducked out of his way, leaned down and handed him his clothes. He took them and stepped into his briefs.
"Where are you going?" His tone matched his somber gaze.
"You-you would not know its name."
"No argument there. There"s practically nothing I know about you. Look, Maia, isn"t there some way I can get you to stay? Ah, how would you like to go to London tomorrow?"
London? What was that? "I cannot. Please, hurry. We must not be late."
"We? I"m going with you?"
"Yes, of course."
That seemed to rea.s.sure him, and although he didn"t take his eyes off her, he wasted no time getting dressed. He put on his foot-coverings and then indicated her bare feet.
"I don"t know how you do that. This is volcanic rock, sharp as h.e.l.l in places."
She had to admit that the ground was harder than she was used to, but she had no trouble walking on it. "The fire arch." She pointed in the direction the glow was coming from. "We must hurry." To give her words emphasis, she grabbed his wrist.
"I"m coming," he rea.s.sured her. He started to wrap his arm around her waist, then touched the dagger. "That"s no toy, is it? If need be, it could get deadly?"
Although she didn"t quite understand what he meant, she rea.s.sured him that one of its functions was for protection. As for the other-it wasn"t time for him to know that.
Much as she wanted to run, it was too dark to safely do that. Besides, the closer they got to the top of the hill where the fire arch had been lit, the more crowded it became.
People, particularly men, stared at her. Maybe they could look at her and know she"d just mated. She supposed her gown, so simple compared to what most people wore, was too much of a contrast to be ignored. When an older woman shook her head in disapproval, it dawned on Maia that her veil-dress exposed a great deal of her body. Interesting. People from Taurus" time covered themselves; she just didn"t understand why.
As soon as they reached the top of the hill, Taurus ran interference by shouldering their way through groups of onlookers. She clung to his side, feeling both protected and on the brink of asking him if he wanted to mate again. Given how sore she was between her legs, that wasn"t wise, but it would be worth the discomfort. They would mate again as soon as they"d returned to her time, she rea.s.sured herself. The thought of mating on a down and feather covering prompted her to slide her hand down his hip.
"What?" Taurus caught her hand. "Don"t tell me you"re getting raunchy all over again. You"re going to be the death of me."
"No. You will not die. You must not!"
"Calm down, will you. It"s just a figure of speech. I swear, you are the most confusing-"
Much as she loved the sound of his voice, particularly the way it seemed as if she could feel it in her spine, there wasn"t time to talk. Grabbing his wrist again, she plunged ahead.
The arch fire had been constructed out of tree branches and limbs fastened to a frame nearly twice as tall as Taurus. Although she knew what they had to do, the sight of all those dancers and other performers stopped her.
"I do not understand," she said. "The women in white, men who have painted themselves the color of fire or summer gra.s.ses. Why do they do those things?"
"I"m not the one to ask. My friend explained some stuff about the festival, but all I can give you is the short course. It"s all supposed to symbolize the seasons, concentrating on spring of course."
"The fire arch. Have the color-people already gone through it?"
"I think so. According to Paul, that"s the first thing they do. Then the May Queen- she"s the one wearing all those colors-makes a circuit of the hill with her companions. >From what I understand, they visit sites that represent Air, Earth, Water and Fire. They must have already done that because-yeah, see those Red Men?"
The Red Men were running around the Rainbow Woman and the others with her. At first Maia was afraid the Red Men would attack and kill someone, but no one acted afraid, and no one had pulled out a weapon. Instead, everyone ran here and there, yelling, laughing. So many colors and bodies were in motion that she was getting dizzy watching them. None of it made sense.
"Do you want to try to get closer?" Taurus asked. "I take it you haven"t seen this before. Neither have I so if that"s what you want to do before we- Well you don"t need me to spell that out, do you?"
His hip grinding into hers left no doubt of what he had in mind, and if this was any other time, she"d take hold of his seed-maker and find a way to put it inside her again.
But this was tonight. Her mission had to be completed before morning.
Turning her back on the barbaric spectacle, she propelled Taurus toward the burning arch. A few people stood within a few feet of it, but everyone"s attention was on the heathen dancers who knew nothing of the magic of Bel-fire. She felt the heat on her face, b.r.e.a.s.t.s, arms. The flames were so intense that she couldn"t keep her gaze on it, and the way it crackled and snapped gave her pause. Just the same, she didn"t stop walking.
"What are you doing?" Taurus demanded when they were only a few steps from it. "What if it collapses?"
He was right. All the wood was ablaze and much of it had already been destroyed. From what she could tell, the branches had been fastened in place with rope and when that burned through- "We must hurry."
"Wait a minute." Taurus grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against him. His seed-maker poked her backside. "I"ve gone along with everything you"ve wanted so far, but I don"t have a death wish."
Neither did she, she wanted her people to live and flourish and celebrate as they had since the beginning of time.
"We must run through it."
"No, we don"t! This is crazy."
"Taurus, please! I will not let anything happen to you, I promise."
"That"s not a promise you can keep, so don"t throw that at me. Look lady, sometimes you flat out scare me."
How could that possibly be? He weighed nearly twice what she did, and she"d have to stand on tiptoe to kiss him. Alarmed by how much time was pa.s.sing and how unsteady the arch looked, she turned in his arms and did the only thing she could think of; she grabbed his seed-maker in both hands.
"Ow! What the h.e.l.l-"
Concerned that she was hurting him, she let up a little but didn"t release him.
"Careful there." His hands hovered over hers as if afraid to disturb her. "Those are the family jewels. Gzz, you don"t mess around, do you?"
"Now, please. We will run. It will take only a few heartbeats."
"If you keep on holding me like that, I"m not going to be doing any running."
Why was she wasting time listening to his arguments? Calling on the only thing she could think of to reach him, she leaned into him. "I was a virgin before I took you into me." The fire made so much noise that she wasn"t sure he could hear her. The wind pushed smoke around them and the glow-the glow was like the sun. "That was what I did for you; let you change me from a girl to a woman."
He sucked in his breath. "No argument there," he said softly, almost reverently.
"That was my gift. Now... "
"I know." He glanced over her shoulder at the burning arch. "You want me to risk frying every hair on my head." He shuddered. "Promise me something. This is the last crackpot thing you"ll ask me to do."
"Crackpot? I do not have a pot with me."
"Forget I said anything. Look, will you please let go?"
"You will take my hand, and we will walk under the fire together?"
"Walk, no. Run, yes."
Relief surged through her. Releasing his seed-maker, she held out her hand.
"I should be locked up," he muttered, taking her hand.
The arch crackled; the sound was followed by something that resembled a scream. Taurus muttered, "d.a.m.n." She couldn"t get out a word.
Though he tried to hold back, she led the way to the base of the arch. The people nearby either stared or loudly warned them not to do anything stupid. In truth, her heart was pounding so that she felt light-headed, but she"d already spent a long time where she didn"t belong and was desperate to return to her world-with Taurus. In her mind"s eye, she saw her parents, siblings, and other relatives. Most of all, she thought about The Lady and the Bel-fire ceremonies that had marked all the seasons of her life.
How could her child grow without Bel-fire?
"Now!" Clutching Taurus" hand with all her strength, she lowered her head and ran.
Instead of trying to hold her back, he matched her stride. She felt heat and smelled smoke, heard people scream.
Then there was nothing.
Chapter Seven.
Even before he became fully conscious, Taron concluded that he"d just had the best sleep of his adult life. The first thing to counter that impression was the realization that he was on his feet and not in bed. Then he felt a small, warm hand in his, and it all came back.
He reluctantly opened his eyes. If he"d burned himself- No. Somehow he"d come through the fire unharmed.
But where the h.e.l.l was he?
As his vision cleared, he took in more and more impressions, not that they made any sense. At first blush it appeared that he was still at the top of Carlton Hill with the town of Edinburgh below, but this wasn"t the hill he"d been at last night-if it had indeed been last night.
For one, the unfinished but impressive Athenian acropolis wasn"t there, and there was no sign of the steep staircase he"d trudged up. Someone had taken away the trash cans, temporary restrooms, sound equipment, stage sets, and other equipment. Even the parking lot and cars were no longer in evidence.
Holding Maia"s hand tighter than he wanted to admit, he looked down at the town- or rather what little there was of it. Because it was dusk, he couldn"t tell much except that there were no street lights. h.e.l.l, there weren"t even any streets-or houses or commercial district or roads in or out. Except for a collection of what looked like huts and a larger stone structure nearly hidden in the shadows, the valley was empty.
His throat dried.
"Where are we?" he demanded.
"Home," Maia said.
Not my home. But even as he thought that, a sense of peace trickled over him. No two ways about it, there was a lot to be said for a place empty of the sound of automobiles and bright lights.
Dusk? Wait a minute. Hadn"t it been night the last he knew? So, along with everything else, he was in a time warp of some kind. Time warp? No, it was more than that. He"d gone back, back in time.
"What year is it?" he demanded. For the first time in hours, he thought about his schedule and what was at stake.
"Year? I do not know what you mean."
About to point out that that wasn"t the only thing she hadn"t been able to supply, it occurred to him that he, not she, was the one who was out of step now. Out of his element, his world.
"You do not have to hold on so tight," she said wiggling her fingers. "I will not leave you."
He let up on his grip but didn"t free her because she was the only thing that connected him to reality-or was she?
Bombarded by questions that might never have answers, he again turned his attention to his surroundings. Modern trappings still hadn"t miraculously appeared, but his initial impression that the hill was deserted had been wrong. They weren"t alone.
The knot of people was far enough away and in enough shadow that he had difficulty making them out, but Maia seemed eager to join them. He went with her, not because he gave a d.a.m.n who these folks were, but, well, h.e.l.l, because for reasons that went beyond his c.o.c.k, he wanted to stay near her.
There was a small fire inside a stone circle, and that provided enough illumination that he realized that the group was made up of men, women, and children, all dressed in what looked like peasant costumes-only maybe they weren"t costumes. A trio of old men with long beards wore light gray, almost white capes, and the way the others looked at them brought him to the conclusion that they were some kind of leaders.
Then he spotted a tall, stately woman with long, white hair. She had on a ground-length red cape made of gauzy material that left no doubt that she was naked under it-like Maia. He guessed her age at around fifty. She carried herself as if she was royalty. Behind her stood a huge, snow-white horse. It took a conscious effort not to bow.
Maia released his hand and bent her head before the queen-like woman.
"My Lady, I return," Maia said.
"It is good to see you, Maia," the older woman replied. "You have done well. Taurus is here. You have mated with him?"
"I have. Twice."
So much for privacy.
"Good. He willingly walked through the fire pa.s.sage with you?" the woman asked.
"He did what I needed him to do," Maia explained. "But he has no knowledge."
You can say that again. Although it irritated him to be talked about as if he was deaf and mute, there was no denying that there wasn"t a whole lot he could add to the conversation.
"He belongs to you?"