A Paladin's War Ch. 04

When Amina pulled her horse up short and thrust a hand upward, Jeira drew rein and looked around nervously. The surrounding landscape was all tall grass and a few rocky outcrops thrusting out of the greenery. In the far distance, the outline of the Amarions was just barely visible, jagged peaks reaching for the sky. She could see nothing else that would make the Priestess stop.

That was when she felt it; a vibrant warmth passing through her, making her gasp as it heated her body on the inside. The feeling was close to euphoria, and it made her want to laugh giddily. Echoing sounds of pleased surprise ran through the party as it washed over them. It was a familiar feeling; Jeira had felt it many times before. It was a vala, but she didn't need to ask Amina to know it wasn't the Priestess's power they were all feeling right now. She glanced at Tavish, but the look on the lad's face - all wide-eyed surprise - said it wasn't him either. Nor was it Ayla, whose expression mirrored her brother's. Who, then? Was Henley around somewhere? No, it isn't Henley, she told herself, surprised that she felt so certain of it. She would know Henley's vala if she felt it, as she would Elaina's or Aran's or Amina's. They were each... unique, somehow.

One look at her sisters - that's how she thought of them, now - showed equal parts pleasure and trepidation. "This one is different," Bella said quietly, echoing Jeira's thoughts. "I think it is someone new."

"Yes," Sorla agreed from behind, touching her breast briefly. "I think I would recognise if it were Henley, or Kedron."

Anticipation built in Jeira as Amina watched the horizon to the east, her hand still frozen above her shoulder as if forgotten. Jeira felt the Priestess's power envelop her as it flowed outward, invisible to the naked eye yet so solid, so real. A minute later, they were riding again at a quick trot. The new vala retreated and swept over the group again several times as they rode, each time feeling stronger. When the sun was almost at its noonday zenith, Jeira spotted a lone man standing atop a rocky hill of perhaps three hundred paces away. When the figure saw them, he dashed down the hill with shocking speed and raced toward them so fast Jeira's eyes kept losing him. This had to be the owner of the strange vala. She thought she heard Amina curse as the fellow approached, but that couldn't be right; Amina never cursed, or lost her composure.

The man who came skidding to a halt before Amina's horse was remarkably handsome, with a strong jaw and tanned skin and deep brown eyes that crinkled at the corners as if he were used to smiling. There was an intensity in those eyes, too. His outfit was the strangest she'd seen, all loose flowing material so thin she could see right through it to the bare skin of the fit, broad-shouldered body beneath. Most assuredly an arohim. Only arohim are this beautiful. Besides, he had no hair, down there, and Jeira had only seen that on Elves, Dwarves and arohim. She made herself look back at his face.

"Foolish boy!" Amina growled, her horse frisking a few steps as it sensed her irritation. Jeira stared at the Priestess's back in shock. She'd never seen Amina angry. "Lighting signal fires in broad daylight! You are lucky the Heralds or the darkspawn have not come down on you like the wrath of the Gunn'dar!" Jeira didn't know what that meant, but it sounded bad.

The young man looked up at Amina with something approaching reverence. "You are... like me?" He looked around at the rest of them, his eyes passing quickly over everyone, though Jeira got the sense he quietly noted every detail and filed it away in his mind. His gaze halted on Tavish but stayed longer on Ayla. Ayla shot him a smile that would have melted the pants off most men, but he appeared not to see it as he turned back to Amina. Jeira could not blame him, really; Amina was the sort of woman whom stories and songs were written about.

"Who are you, boy?" The Priestess demanded. Her voice radiated command. "Where have you come from?"

"I am Mikel," he replied with a smooth bow. "And I have come from Sarresh." Jeira couldn't see Amina's face, but she thought the Priestess might be frowning. "I was told to come to the edge of the Sorral Plain and radiate my magic, and someone would meet me here. I must say, I was about to give up, but then I felt you."

"Magic," Amina muttered flatly. "Who told you to do this?"

"There was a girl in Sarresh. She was like me, too. She did something to me. Made me stronger. She's the one who told me."

"Sara!" Ayla exclaimed happily as she rode up to Amina. "It has to be her!"

"Silence!" Amina snapped, making the girl wilt visibly. Jeira shifted uncomfortably; she'd never seen Amina this agitated. "You will be riding with us, boy," she told Mikel. "And you will keep your 'magic,' suppressed as best you know how. You can do this, yes?" Jeira didn't sense anything, but after a moment, Amina nodded, satisfied. "You will have many questions, as do I. We will talk once we are in a safe location. You may have drawn many unwanted eyes to this place."

A protesting look crossed Mikel's face and he started to say something, but a sharp look from Amina snapped his mouth shut. With not enough horses to go around, Mikel promptly found himself perched up behind Erik after Sylvia moved to ride with Sorla. Erik looked a little disgruntled at the change in companionship, but soon after they began riding Jeira could hear the stocky scholar asking Mikel all about Sarresh.

The rest of the day wore on uneventfully except for a few more violent outbursts from her melda that had her feeling all jumpy again - what in the twelve hells was happening to the man? - and they finally made camp at dusk, in a stand of pine and ash on the side of a sizable hill. Once everyone was dismounted and settled and a small fire was blazing, Amina announced the location of a stream not far away for bathing and fresh water, though she warned everyone not to stray too far and to not go alone. Then she seized Mikel's arm and led him off to the other side of the hill.

Every eye followed them until they disappeared from sight. Silence settled over the small campsite for long moments, but Sylvia was the first to break it. "Another arohim!" she said in a hushed but excited voice. "I can't believe it! How many is that, now?" She stuck out fingers to strike off the numbers as she counted mentally, her lips moving as she did.

"Nine," Erik answered wryly as he rubbed his horse down with a handful of grass pulled from the ground. "That we know of."

"Sara found him," Ayla said quietly. "She did for him what she did for me. That's what he said." Standing beside her, Tavish sighed and walked off a little way before folding himself down on the ground with his back to them. Ayla turned to watch him go, and when she turned back, she looked sad. "He wants to be strong," she told them, her dark eyes soulful in the failing light. "He wants to protect me, but he can't if he is not at least as powerful as me. At least, that's the way he sees it."

Jeira smiled at her comfortingly. "It will be well, in time. He will reach his potential, one way or another." Ayla seemed soothed by the words, and she didn't say any more on the matter.

"Poor Tavish," Lynelle murmured, folding her arms across her slender middle. "First Ayla is given her full power, leaving him behind, and now this new man. It must be frustrating for him."

"I will talk to him," Erik said, rising from where he'd been crouched by his horse. "I'm not sure what I can say to help, but maybe he would appreciate someone to hear him out." Suiting his own words, he wiped his hands on his breeches and went to sit beside Tavish. After a moment, the two men began to talk quietly.

"I think," Jeira said to the others, "that I will go and bathe. Anyone who wishes to join is welcome." She was pleased when her sisters all expressed the same desire. Lynelle and Sylvia and Ayla remained at the camp; they would take their turn later.

After a short walk, the four women found themselves at the bank of a clear, babbling stream winding its way through the shallow valley between two low hills. They chatted as they stripped, helping each other out of their clothes before stepping into the knee-deep water, cool if not cold. No one mentioned Aran as they washed; whatever was happening to him, there was nothing they could do about it here and now. Rayna told a dirty joke about a Giant and a Dwarf which made everyone chuckle, and then Sorla told an even dirtier one about an Elf who fell in love with a tree - that one had them rolling about in the water in stitches - and the mood was much lighter after that.

After washing their dresses and smalls in the stream, the four women walked back up the hill with their clothes hanging over their arms with the intention of hanging them up around the fire to dry. That was when they saw Mikel standing above them on the hill, looking down at them unabashed. Jeira could not make out his features - dusk had turned to twilight as they bathed - but she thought he had an approving look on his face. None of the four women slowed or even faltered as they noticed him, nor did they attempt to cover themselves; nudity was not something to be ashamed of. Jeira had thought it was, once, but she lived a different life, now. Mikel's eyebrows rose as the women strode confidently into the camp, unconcerned by his presence. Lynelle, Erik and Sylvia looked up briefly from where they were sitting by the fire but went back to their discussion when they saw who it was.

Amina was nowhere to be seen as Jeira hung her dress up on the lowest branch of an ash tree. When she asked, Erik said she was out scouting and would be back later.

"I could get used to this," Mikel said smoothly as watched the naked women hanging their clothes in the trees. "Even in Sarresh, we are not so... free. Not quite." There was something different about him to the other arohim Jeira knew. He was confident, but it felt somehow forced, as if he was putting on an act. It was strange, coming from an arohim.

"Well, you will have to," Bella told him as she boldly strode up to him. She folded her arms beneath her generous breasts and eyed him up and down as if he were nothing special. She wasn't being rude, just cheeky. "If you hope to stay around."

Mikel's eyes widened at her display, and he looked as if he was about to fall face first into her pale cleavage. Shaking himself, he resumed some of his composure, at least until Rayna came up beside her friend and put her arm around her shoulder.

"What's the matter?" the fiery redhead enquired sweetly. "Never seen a naked woman before?" Her voice changed to a sly purr when she added, "what about two naked women kissing?" With a finger, she turned Bella's face to her own and their lips met in a soft, but deep kiss.

Jeira smirked at the display, and a glance at the fire showed the others watching with amused interest. Mikel did not appear to know what to do, but the grin creeping across his face said he was figuring it out quickly. Jeira felt a sudden heat flare in her belly, something that happened often when around Aran or Henley; Mikel must be using his vala. Rayna and Bella were suddenly pawing at each other, moaning and grunting as they kissed madly, like two lovers together again after years apart. A very different air settled over the camp, and Jeira knew what would come next. Excitement fluttered in her, and she felt wetness between her lower lips.

"Not tonight," Amina's voice said from the darkness. A moment later, she flowed into the firelight, all graceful beauty and regal bearing. All eyes turned to her as she fixed Mikel with a flat stare. "You," she said as she pointed at him, "are to remain by my side until further notice." Jeira thought Mikel looked equal parts happy and dismayed. He cast a regretful look at Rayna and Bella in front of him before following the Priestess.

"Well," Erik began, clearing his throat surreptitiously. Lynelle was sitting across his lap, her hair somewhat tousled since Jeira had last looked at her, and Erik's square face looked flushed with arousal. "I suppose we should see to some dinner then?"

"Do you think she meant no sex at all?" Sylvia asked innocently. She was standing near the fire, her tunic and blouse on the ground nearby, leaving her bare to the waist. "Or was that just for Mikel?"

"I think it was for all of us, daughter," Lynelle answered regretfully as she left Erik's lap. "At least for tonight." There were a few reluctant grumbles at that - the heat in the air was still palpable - but eventually everyone settled down into a more ordinary evening. Jeira and her sisters put on dry clothes and got busy helping out where required. Once the food was prepared - a tasty stew of rabbit and potato and carrot - Ayla and Tavish joined the group to eat, and the heat in the air was replaced with a quiet, jovial hum of laughter and light conversation.

Later, when the fire had been doused and everyone was wrapped up in their blankets, Jeira lay awake, staring up at the sky. Not long ago, the melda had gone quiet, and this time it had not come back. Around her, she knew that Sorla, Rayna and Bella would also be awake, fearing to sleep for more bad dreams.

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END OF CHAPTER FOUR

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