Alexa Ch. 03

"Shouldn't we hide? Lilli asked in an anxious voice.

"Not yet," Alexa said. "I need to make sure my horse has plenty of grain. Keep a look out for me...please."

"Go," Lilli said and peered out of the door way while Alexa ran to the stall.

Rain was clearly nervous, as was the Golden Orb. It terrified Alexa. She quickly filled Rain's feed basin with extra grain and hugged his neck.

"Protect us, mighty war horse. Protect yourself. I will return. I love you." Rain snorted and stamped a foot. Alexa turned and ran back to her new home. Together, she and Lilli bolted the door, gathered up food and what weapons they could find; three knives and a long sword Alexa found hanging from a roof beam, and lit an oil lamp. All the while, she kept a hand over her womb. The energy inside her was still agitated.

Focus your energy in your power center at the belly button,the Orb commanded.And feel your connection to Gaia.When Alexa did as her child said, she immediately calmed. She took Lilli's hand.

"Follow me. Bend your head down low." Dragging and carrying their supplies and weapons, they passed through the tunnel, skirted around the hot pool and found the almost hidden passage that led beyond. They had to crawl on their hands and knees, but after a few moments, the narrow tunnel opened into a large cavern. The sight was awe inspiring. The ceiling was very high and large spires of rock hung down from above and pointed up from the floor. There were phantasmagoric shapes in the rock, and great crystals adorned the room on the walls, ceiling and floor. They followed a narrow path through the maze of natural stone sculptures.

"Do you think we've come far enough?" Alexa asked.

"I don't know," Lilli replied. "I'm scared and I'm cold. What will happen to us?"

Alexa draped a blanket around Lilli's shoulders.

"Ran Chi will return, fetch us and all will be fine," she said trying to calm Lilli. "Do you know about your energy centers?" Lilli shook her head, and Alexa explained the seven centers of energy in the human body. "The trick is to refocus your energy. When you are fearful, envision the energy from your root center connecting firmly to Gaia, and then draw it up into you belly button area to the power center. It will relax and empower you."

While Lilli experimented with this new knowledge, Alexa busied herself making a comfortable camp site. After a while, she asked the Khan's niece if she knew what a two-spirit person is.

"I have heard the term," she said. "But I don't really know what it means."

"Most people are born with one extremely dominate gender spirit. A man is usually a man, and a woman is a woman even though everyone has a bit of both. A woman can be forceful and a man can be soft, but most people are one or the other. Some people are born with two spirits. I am a two-spirit girl. That means I was born in a boy's body, but...I always felt, all my life, that something was wrong. I felt like I was really, really a girl born in the wrong body. Fortunately fore me, my grandmother taught me about two-spirit people and helped me become the woman that I am. Seers are attracted to two-spirit girls. I was lucky to find a seer that wanted me."

Alexa stopped and let all that sink in. They didn't speak for a while, but sat side by side eating dried meat and fruit. Suddenly Alexa heard the voice of her mystical child.

Tell Lilli about me. It's okay. She needs to learn about her own two-spirit nature, but share yours first.

"Do you want to feel something interesting?" Alexa asked her. She grabbed Lilli's hand and placed it over her womb before the young woman could answer. "Tell me what you feel?" Lilli didn't pull away, but a puzzled look fell across her face. "Close your eyes and fell what's inside me."

Lilli obeyed the seer's slave and suddenly felt warmth fill her palm.

"It's warm," she said.

"I am pregnant," Alexa said and Lilli opened her eyes. "Not with flesh and blood, but with a magical being of pure energy. It only happens between a two-spirit girl and a seer." She paused and then resumed speaking. "It speaks to me."

Suddenly Alexa's belly began to glow with golden light. It filled Lilli's hand with more than warmth. Her hand tingled with a pleasurable sensation. She stared at it and then looked into Alexa's eyes.

"It told me," Alexa said, "That you, Lilli, niece of the great Magus Khan, are also a two-spirit person." They stared into each others eyes. The light of the oil lamp and the orb radiated into the cavern. Alexa watched one tear spill out of Lilli's eye and trail down her face. Alexa reached up and wiped it with a finger.

"Does that ring true," Alexa asked. Lilli responded by releasing a small sob, and she buried her face in her hands. She cried without speaking for a long time. Alexa reached out and held her in her arms. After a while, Lilli spoke,

"All my life I felt out of place," she still sniffled and wiped her face with the back of her hand. "I look at men I'm sure my uncle would want me to marry, and I only feel revulsion. I would see young, beautiful women in court and on the street, and I would burn with desires I was so ashamed for having. Now what do I do? I'm not sure I'm not more confused than ever."

"Now you can start being yourself. The Golden Orb told me something else. I think destiny, that's something both Ran and the orb talk about a lot, has a plan for both of us. I carry the soul of the Golden Orb, and you, it said, will bare the flesh and blood child that the orb will incarnate into." They didn't speak for a long time and eventually they fell asleep, huddled together in each others warmth.

Ran didn't go straight to the fortress. That would have been folly. He went to Caree, one canyon over. She was waiting outside her door. Ran leaped from his horse.

"It's happened; Magara and the inner guard have revolted. You need to go into hiding. If the Khan falls, they'll hunt us all down."

"They won't find me so easy to eliminate, Ran Chi.

"Of that, I have no doubt, dear Caree. But I have Alexa and the Khan's niece, Lilli, hiding in the great cavern. I'll feel better if you join them; for their protection."

"As you wish." Ran turned away, mounted his stead and rode back down the canyon. Caree went inside, gathered what she needed to take, and disappeared into the small, hidden opening that connected her home to the great cavern.

Ran Chi rode toward the top of the mountain over looking the fortress. There were guards stationed at the top, and he stopped, dismounted and carefully worked his way through the rocks maintaining enough cover to surprise them. He couldn't take any chances. They had to die. He pulled out two small throwing knives, slipped up unnoticed behind them and dispatched two before they knew he was there. The third spun around and Ran drove his sword through the guard's neck, twisted it and let him fall off the blade in his own bubbling blood. He stepped around the bodies and looked down on the fortress city, Alamain.

He closed his eyes and called his animal spirit, the hawk, for its assistance. Suddenly it soared in the darkness behind his closed eye lids.

Can I save the Khan?One long screech; negative.

"Damn it!"

Can I defeat Magara?Three loud screeches; positive

Show me what I must do.

Ran saw himself lying in wait along a trail across the western plain. Magara traveled alone. The moon was dark. That was three days hence. The hawk showed him attacking Magara with the power of his magic by casting arrows of energy, shot from his power center. Easy enough but very energy draining. He thanked the hawk, made his way back to his horse and rode down and out the long way to the western plain.

He whispered a prayer asking the Great Spirit to protect Alexa, Lilli and Caree. As he rode, he thought of his new bride, his love and the Golden Orb. He remembered their last night and the love making. How perfect and complete he felt when he was sexually connected to her, inside her filling her with his energy and his seed. He recalled the sounds she made when she climaxed. How her body shivered during an orgasm. How deliciously tight her feminine center was when his hardness was snuggly at home inside her. How terribly lonely he felt at this moment, riding out to murder an evil man while thinking of his perfect two-spirit woman.