Feldare Tales: A Dark and Stormy Knight

Chuckling the man walked into the cabin as well. It was simply a large room, three paces by five. The furniture in here had been made by hand, but seemed serviceable. It consisted of a bed, a table with chair, and a small rack for hanging things upon. "All the comforts of home," he said, cheerily.

She smiled over her shoulder at him. "Of course, milord," she curtsied. "Quarters fit for a king." Her eyes sparkled as she spoke and he smiled at her again.

As her heart lub-dubbed and turned over in her chest, she decided that she needed to distract herself before she made a fool of herself with this lovely man. As she tried to squeeze by him in the doorway, he put out an arm. Despite the slimness of his limb, it felt as solid as a steel bar when she pushed against it. She thought a moment that he held the door jamb, but no. When she looked, his arm hung in the air. She blinked at how strong he must be to stop her dead with just his arm and a negligent motion.

He grinned. "Thank you, Nadia," he said. "I am fortunate, indeed to not only be found by a huntsman, but additionally for being found by the most beautiful of the Huntresses." His voice was low and somehow more intense now.

"You are welcome," she murmured nervously. "And I still think you're a bit addled to think me anything but plain." Her face blushed deeply at his compliments, and her eyes turned to him. "But I don't mind you speaking such sweet words to me, for they do feel good, I hear them so seldom."

He touched her face with his cool, slim hand. "You will hear a lot of them so long as I am about," he stated, his eyes level and locking her gaze to them. "And I probably will not be going until you make me."

Now, she was nervous. This was a little too much, too fast, even for her admittedly unregimented pattern of courtship. "Sir," she said. "You are a handsome man, and can have your way, likely, with most women." Her eyes finally broke contact with his. "And even me, if you sought it. But, I beg you not to abuse that One-given ability. Don't play games with my heart."

His eyes softened at her almost plaintiff appeal. "I do not intend to," he said, and his fingers touched her cheek again. Her head came up to gaze directly at him again. He leaned forward and kissed her gently, his lips were soft and very warm, and just a touch moist.

She at first thought that the lightning had charged him with energy, for she felt a jolt of it pass through her entire body, causing her muscles to twitch and then lock into place. He did not part his lips, or move his hand from her cheek, he simply gave her that small, lingering kiss, then pulled away. "I will not take advantage of you," he said. "And though I know not who I am, I do know I am not a man who would toy with your emotions."

As his fingers slipped off her smooth cheek she felt her muscles finally unlock and she leaned back against the frame of the door. With an effort, she kept her breathing from becoming ragged and short. She, however, could do little to control the moist feeling that ran down the inside of one thigh. With a great swallow, she turned back toward the small clearing the hut sat facing.

She looked behind the hut and found her cache of firewood and brought in an armload. The man was sitting at the little table and pouring over the papers. "I still do not know what these say," he murmured. "Are you certain they were mine?"

She nodded. "Well, they were on a horse you were riding," she confirmed.

He grinned. "Let us hope it was my horse," he chuckled. "Somehow, I do not think I was a horse thief."

Her expression became mixed. "Unless you go about stealing horses in full knight's armor, then no."

He looked at her. "I wore the armor of a knight?" he asked. "Where is it now?"

"It was badly damaged by the lightning, and further by my removing it from you so that you could sleep properly, its joints had been welded by the heat," she answered.

He nodded. "I am amazed I survived this incident," he said. "I had wondered why I was wearing a felt suit of padding."

"There are some other clothes under those floorboards, some may fit." She pointed to a spot near the bed. "My old mentor gave them to me so that I could modify them for my own use, but I never got around to it."

He stuffed the parchment back into the pack and knelt next to the loose floorboards, pulling them aside he took out the bundled clothes. The bundle he sat upon the table and opened it, looking through the clothes within, they were clean and well-made, if not finery.

Reaching for the cords holding his padding on him, he slipped the knots and his legging fell to the floor. She gasped at the sight of his bare bottom and he half turned to see what was the matter. Her second gasp was louder, and he finally figured out his error. Covering his manhood with one hand. "By the One, I am sorry, miss," he said, then reached for his legging with one hand. His legs were muscular and powerful, amazingly so, thick cords of sinew ran around and over his thighs and calves, and even though she had tried not to look, even his round little rump was muscular and powerful-looking.

She giggled and backed out the door, pulling it shut. "No, go ahead and change, sir," she said. Nadia walked to the far side of the clearing, giggling. He may be short of stature, she thought, but he was not a small man. He stepped out of the hut a moment later, wearing a pair of Relkan's trousers. He had no shirt on, however, and she gasped at the massive tattoo that covered his chest from one side to another. It was a great, stylized eagle, clutching a heart and a sword in its talons. The heart showed the only color than black on the tattoo, as it dripped blood. His chest was muscled as impressively as his legs, heavy, powerful musculature that rippled as he moved. His arms, too, were akin to the legs and chest, with biceps that curled into tight balls as he bent the arm to lift the blue tunic he had found. He slipped a tunic over his head, and it draped on him, a touch large, but adequate.

"I am so sorry to have exposed myself to you like that," he said. "It is just that the damn felt had been causing me to itch since I awoke." He face radiated sincerity, and she decided to accept his apology.

With a smile she said, "Well, had the view been less appealing, I would resent it more. Mostly, it was just rather a surprise." Her face flushed. Had she needed to compliment him? Probably not, but it did seem the honest thing to do.

He grinned sheepishly and looked at her. "I am just glad it had been a few minutes from that brief kiss you allowed me to take," he said. "Else the view would have been more, well, more."

Her blush now turned to deep crimson. "Sir," she said, covering her mouth and nose with her hand. "That is probably a bit too much knowledge for my confused mind." She was smiling broadly though, behind that hand, and her eyes betrayed her.

Giving her a askance look he said, "Something tells me you are not quite a coy as you pretend."

She lowered her shielding hand. "I would not want to be thought too loose of morals, either, sir," Her eyes grew a bit softer, as well. "Especially by a man as beautiful as you."

He smiled kindly. "I will, then, await your next move in the game," he said.

She laughed. "A game is it?" Then she paused to think. "Well, I suppose it does play a bit like one. Very well, sir, when I decide my move, rest assured. You will be the second to know." Her eyes grew consternated a moment. "We need a name to call you," she said, finally realizing what was bothering her. "I've seen you mostly unclad, yet know not your name, and that is vexing."

He concentrated. "I fear I still do not know," he murmured. "Choose one for me to wear until the time comes when my own reenters my mind."

She blinked a few times. To name a man was no minor feat, she soon realized. A child was a blank slate that a name was simply scribed into, and the child formed around the name. To give a man a new name was a very different task, for he was formed wholly, and well, she thought, grinning.

Her mind whirled with the possible options. "Gavin," she finally said.

"Gavin?" he asked. "Why Gavin, not that it is a poor choice."

"It was my father's name, and he was a handsome man, and I always thought him the strongest man on Feldare." She spoke with a rush of words.

The look in his eyes seemed near to tears, suddenly. "I would be honored to wear the name of your father, Nadia," he said. "For he is proven a great man to have given you life and helped you become what you are today." His voice took on a almost poetic air. "Huntress of Morrovale."

Her whole face slackened at his words, and she felt her breath catch in her throat. If this man desired her, she realized, he would have her, at his leisure. She had no defenses from such a smooth-talking man, and so handsome a face. Her eyes showed the resignation with which she regarded the current situation. She had a small kernel of hope that he would not wish to have her, and she would avoid heartache. In that hope lay her only sense of sanity.

When she finally began to breathe again, he was standing close to her. "Call me Gavin, then, Huntress."

She gulped. "Yes, Gavin," she said, and a delicious tremor ran down her spine at using her father's name to address a man. Of course he had always been 'dad' or 'father' to her. But her mother, who had been deeply in love with that selfsame man had called him 'Gavin.' Without realizing it she had imbued the man before her with her father's mystique, and her fond memories prior to her parents' death in a fire. Her heart swelled with the speaking of those words and it encompassed this mysterious man, and enveloped them both.

He smiled at her from a distance of a few inches. He had to see her forced breathing and the flickering of her eyes as she took in his features at such a close range. His hand came up and touched her neck. Without thinking she tilted her head and offered her throat to him. With the gentlest of touches he brushed his lips over her corded throat and then the lobe of her ear.

Nadia was gasping now, as Gavin slightly parted his lips, and the tip of his tongue traced down her throat, then forward to the lowest point of the 'v' her collar bones formed. Her own hands were at her side, opening and closing as if unsure of what to do or where to go. He slowly kissed and licked his way up the other collar bone and to her soft neck on the reverse side. He kissed under her lobe and then the lobe itself and a moan escaped her lips.

When he stood upright again, she was still breathing hard and her head was tilted back, with lips parted and eyes shut. She realized he was done for the moment, and shuddered through her whole body as the jangling nerves throughout her form relaxed.

"I thought you were waiting for my move?" she queried, though her eyes were not upset in the least.

"Now you are allowed two moves, then." He grinned widely. "And I ..." He started to say but something blocked his speech, possibly it was her tongue as she kissed him soundly while locking her arms around his neck. Her long, muscular body pressed to his and she forced her pelvis slightly forward feeling his manhood twitching under the pressure of her prominent pubic bone.

This time, he was left panting from her forceful assault upon his lips. "Does that count as one?" she asked, batting her eyelashes theatrically.

He nodded, and held one hand out to a birch tree nearby to steady himself. "I believe it did," he murmured, his voice slightly slurred. Her eyes slid down his body and noted the prominent tenting of his trousers. A tiny smile flitted across her lips and she quickly brought her eyes back to his.

"Good," she said, with a sound of self-satisfaction. "Now, I will go get us something to eat, you should probably sit down, or lie down. I will be back shortly."

"I had forgotten my headache, to be honest," said Gavin. "But, alas, it is still there, lurking in the back of my mind."

"There are herbs that may help that problem, as well," she said. "If I come across any, I'll be sure to collect a bit."

He smiled. "I would be very grateful," he said, walking toward the hut as she picked her bow up and slung a quiver of long arrows over her shoulder.

Giving her a last long look as he entered the little shack. "I hope you will not be gone long," he said.

She walked out of the little clearing and began doing her job. Hunting consumed her as always, and knocked any errant ideas from her head. It cleared her mind, and allowed her to think analytically. She hoped deeply that this man was not toying with her, but what if he was? Did she have any means of preventing it, other than showing him a cold shoulder? Some tracks attracted her eye, a large rabbit, she thought, and began to follow them. Thoughts of Gavin fled her mind as she stalked, she became the Huntress, and fitted into the role. Moving with almost feline grace she slipped through the wood, and passed tightly-packed thickets without so much as a rustle.

Her body became an instrument, a weapon with its own agenda. The mission was simple, but it required all her senses, and all her thoughts. The rabbit burst from a patch of tall grasses before her. The bow sang an instant later, the arrow launched with the deadly and perfect accuracy of long days of practice. Relkan had insisted that she practice over an hour a day, and even now, she practiced three times a week or more. Firing her bow was second nature, and she often did not realize she had done so until she saw the animal drop to the ground.

The rabbit spun in the air as it was caught in mid-leap, the arrow impaling its tiny chest and tearing its small heart in two. She whispered a thanks to the One as she pulled her arrow from its pierced body and quickly gutted and skinned the little beast. Hunting always brought her mind back where it should be, she thought.

What if he was toying with her? What of it? Was she not enjoying the play? She grinned to herself. She certainly was, she decided. "Okay, Sir Mysterious," she said as she walked back toward the clearing, "let's see your hand." Two people, she clearly thought, could play games, had to, in fact, else there was no game to be played. Solitaire ate idle hours, but was not nearly so satisfying as a good hand of poker.

She entered the little cabin with the air of a conquering hero and tossed the rabbit's carcass upon the little table. She turned toward the little cot, where Gavin laid, looking at several pieces of the parchment. "Any luck?" she asked.

"No," he said, biting his lip. "It is just gibberish to me, sorry."

She sat upon the bed, leaning the bow against the rack as she passed it. "How are you feeling?" she asked solicitously.

He smiled up at her, fixing her with his nearly white eyes. "Much better, did you come across any herbs?"

She shook her head. Then took her quiver from her shoulder, setting it on the table next to the rabbit. She reached out and felt his brow, it was not warm, and his eyes no longer had that glazed look they had when he awoke first that morning. Her hand slid down his face to his cheek, then to his neck. Her fingertips memorizing the shape of his bones beneath the skin.

The papers were shoved back into the little pack and he looked up at her. "I could not hope for a more lovely nurse," he said, placing his hand over hers and pressing it to his neck's muscles.

She put on a grin that was half aggressive, and her eyes turned up to meet his. "You may find me a hard nurse to deal with, in the end," she said, her hand gripping on his neck tighter. "I do not play gently."

He grinned at that. "You seem a bit different now," he said. "More sure of yourself."

She let his neck loose, sliding her hand down his chest and over his belly, stopping just short of his groin. "I thought about things while I hunted, and came to several decisions," she said. "It need not concern you, the details, at least, but the resulting decisions will probably be to your liking." Her grin was completely self-assured now. "And definitely will be to mine." She looked at the rabbit, withdrawing her hand from his belly. "But first some fresh meat to feed the furnace," she said, and set to work preparing them a dinner.

They ate in relative quiet. They moved the table to near the bed and he sat upon it while she took the chair. The rabbit was good, even unspiced, she had cooked it well and the meat fairly fell from the bones as they pulled the cooked carcass apart. Apparently he was famished, as he ate a good three-quarters of it while she picked at the meat half-heartedly. Her mind was quite elsewhere, and she cooly thought to herself that Gavin would need more energy than she for what she was planning. He praised her cooking skill, as well as her talent for hunting, then her beauty, not necessarily in that order.

Nadia was no fool, she knew she was an attractive girl, healthy and well-built, but his praises of beauty were far beyond that, in her mind, though she did not feel too put out to accept them gracefully. She, naturally reciprocated his complimentary speech and made certain he knew she found him quite desirable.

As she cleaned up the aftermath of the meal, she told him to lie back down and rest some more. You will need your strength, she thought, but kept silent. She went outside and gathered a little more wood to face the cool of the fall night that was upcoming. With the sky clear, the temperature would drop quickly and probably to near freezing. She wanted no late night runs to the woodpile to feed the fire up.

Her little chores ate up the afternoon, and were done as the sun sank low in the sky. As she sat and took a moment to rest in her chair, he said. "I will lend you any help you ask, on the morrow," he said. "I would earn my keep if I may."

She grinned at him, again flashing her predatory smile. "Fear not, my pretty patient, you will be earning your keep this very night."

He blinked after her as she left the hut and went out into the dwindling light, snatching a blanket off a small shelf before leaving the room.

Nadia returned about half an hour later, her hair plastered to her scalp and the blanket blanket wrapped about her with her clothes in one hand. "Go bathe," she said, smiling. "There is a pond to your left as you leave the house, about two hundred yards." Her eyes sparkled as she watched him get up and grab a blanket from a small shelf. "Make sure to clean yourself very well," she remarked and watched him walk out.

She dropped the blanket form her shoulders and changed the linen on the small cot. By the time he would be back it would be nearly full dark outside. She laid upon the bed and anticipated his return. The only light in the tiny hut was from the gently crackling flames from the fireplace as he opened the door, wrapped in a blanket himself. He gasped when he saw her nude form lying on the bed, pressed to one side, obviously leaving him room to lie down as well.

With an audible gulp he let his blanket slip from his shoulders. "You seem comfortable," he quietly said. Giving her a long look with the red highlight of the fire illuminating her supine body.

She smiled up at him. "I decided that games are good and fine for youths, but we are both adults here." Nadia leaned up onto one elbow. "I want you, and I think you want me," she said, her voice growing breathy and lower in tone.

"Quite a lot, actually," murmured Gavin. She took his dangling hand and pulled him toward the cot, forcing him to sit upon it. Her expression was exceptionally at peace, she had made the choice and intended to enjoy the benefits of that decision.

He touched her ribs with his fingertips, then slowly tracked them up her ribs, feeling the bones beneath her smooth flesh. Then he began climbing the small, firm mound of her right breast. She sighed and laid back down as his fingertips found her nipple, and pinched it between them. "Do you still find me beautiful?" she said, watching his pale eyes in the dim light.