Forbidden Fantasy Ch. 02

Thanks so much for the positive feed back. By popular demand, here is the next segment. IT has a bit more romance, some of Jacob's back story and hopefully some more action. Enjoy!

"So, brother of my soul, will you introduce us, or shall I tell your father?" I knew she was kidding about the father part, but him meeting her was suddenly scary. Flora was so much more attractive than I, both physically and socially. I was a healer, she a wizard. My father was the chief, hers the tribal elder. I was too muscular and tall, she was willowy and graceful and petite. She could dance and speak his language perfectly, I could not dance and my command over his language was atrocious. "Are thinking I am better than you again? You have that look."

"You know me so well." Too well.

"Yes, I do. If this...human," she shuddered upon saying that word, "is that fickle I would not let him share the same air with you." I had to grin. She always knows how to lift my spirits.

I led her to the curtained alcove and peeked my head in. Jacob was looking like he was asleep, but his eye opened a crack. He grinned at me and rolled onto his back, exposing the injured thigh. "My friend want meet you. She like sister...bossy older sister who no take no for answer."

"Your human tongue is horrid, Kiven," she said in his tongue flawlessly.

Jacob looked mildly put off by the words, but he nodded. I pulled her quickly in and I watched as her eyes lost their focus. She was staring at his eyes. She seemed almost charmed, even enchanted. Then she shook it away. "I will start by saying, friend of Kiven. I may be a lowly human, but I would prefer it if you did not insult him even playfully in my presence. He saved my life and I would not care if he were a mute or a dullard, no one will insult him." It came out in a tightly controlled voice that was a bit of a growl. I had to blink in amused awe. I knew the fire that burned in him, I had seen it in battle and felt it in bed. Flora was struck speechless...

...which lasted all of two heart beats. "He'll do. I'm Flora, by the way. How is you leg?"

Jacob nodded as if that were enough. These two seemed to have an understanding already. "It is better than I thought it should be, but then Kiven seems to be a very excellent healer. I'm Jacob of Ivywell." Jacob's eyes turned to me and he smiled. I wanted nothing more to feel those powerful arms around me.

"He is at that. I do not know how many times he's patched me up." She grinned at me, seeing the look in my eyes, knowing that I was fast falling for this human. "What, Jacob of Ivywell, were you doing in the woods with goblins?" I wanted to shush her. It was none of her business and none of mine. He could be in the forest if he chose and he was killing the goblins, his motive was above reproach.

"Hunting them. The tribe attacked my village and I was seeking my revenge." It was a perfectly honorable reason and one I could have guessed by his defense of me. He was filled with strong emotions, almost a berserker in battle save for the cold and calculated maneuvers. When he went at something he did not do it half way. I knew all of this, knew it as surely as I knew my own feeling for him.

"I am grieved to hear of your village. It must have been very recent for I had not heard they were attacked." His jaw clenched a few times and he nodded. "Will they need aide?"

"No, the village will recover well without the goblin raids." His pain was very real and I laid my hand on his shoulder as I sat down. He must have lost loved ones to this attack. Elves knew about suffering and losing loved ones. As long lived as we were we could be killed quite easily with certain weapons. There was a war hundreds of years ago between many races. Elves and Dwarves were allied against humans and the dragons chose to stay "neutral". They chose to kill both sides. The adaptive humans fared far better than the others, they being a very fruitful lot. Their populations grew even as ours dwindled. They took our lost lands, we pulled in our borders. We elves had grown to tolerate humans, but the betrayal of the dragons, who gave the humans cold iron weapons to kills us, can never be forgiven. "I...am very surprised by your compassion. I was always taught that elves were aloof and cold."

"Perhaps towards humans as a whole. Towards individuals we are quite capable of showing the full range of emotions, I assure you." He smiled to push away the bad thoughts and her breath caught. She was not immune to his charms either. "I should let you rest. You are in the best of hands...and other body parts." She laughed when the both of us turned a few shades of red. I looked at his face and I could tell he was not at all unhappy about it either. She left with only the slightest limp and stifling her giggles.

"She is...a lot to take in."

"I've known her 100 years. She still has new parts I not know." I caressed his cheek, the hairs still fine and soft as a doe. He leaned into the touch and smiled up at me. "You rest. Check on you in a while." He nodded and rolled over onto his stomach. Another oddity. Elves sleep flat on our back and stiff as a tree. I could not stop how my eyes slid to his ample backside. It was round and firm, solid muscle overlaid with just enough padding to round it out. The sheet covered him from the waist down and although I knew what lay beneath I could not help but become aroused again. I had never been this...virile. Elves were just not this way. No one else I knew could even get this much arousal in the same month let alone the same day.

I slipped away and fled to my own walled off room adjacent to the infirmary. I closed the door and sagged against it. My heart was fluttering in what I knew was the start of something I could never hope to finish. I knew I could never be with him how my heart wanted. Not only would both of our peoples take up arms my heart could not handle having him for so short of a time as fifty years. To my reckoning that was not even a tenth of my life, and if I lived a long life for an elf it was not even a twentieth, possibly not a thirtieth if I lived as long as Flora's father. My heart could not handle loving him.

But I wanted to so much. I wanted so much to have those years, fleeting as they were. I have never wanted anything so much in my life. I would give up everything to be with him. I would leave the woods, leave my people if he was not welcomed here. I had not known him for a full day and I wanted him so much it was frightening. I would call it fascination with the unknown, but I would not give up my people for mere fascination.

It was well into the day when I brought in something for him to eat. I woke him with a gentle kiss and he rolled over with a smile."Here food." I helped prop him up so he could eat comfortably. "How feel you?"

"I can't believe my leg is this painless. You must have strong magic." He dove into the rabbit and berries like a starving man. Tincture will do that if too much is used.

"No magic, just herbal knowledge. Flora is aa'mak, not me." He looked confused for a moment. "Aa'mak is magic user." He nodded then. When he finished eating I set the plate to the side and stood. "Time to test leg." He nodded and threw back the covers, exposing every part of his anatomy I wanted to see. I held out my hand for him to take and I helped him to his feet. He winced only a bit as he put his weight on his legs, but my mouth opened in awe. I had completely forgotten how tall he was. I was tall for an elf, but he was taller than most humans. He smiled down at me and slid his arms around my waist. There was something in his eyes that said he was very glad I was there and it made my pulse quicken. "How is leg?"

"It hurts, but I can stand." I nodded and pulled away. As much as I wanted to stay in his arms I needed to check to see if he was well enough to walk. I had to get him out of the village before anyone else saw him. He took a few tentative steps towards me, his gait a limping hobble, but he could move about. He was panting with effort even after the four steps. I nodded and helped him back to the cot to sit. "That must have been some wound."

"Down to the artery. I need take off bandage." He stood again and I quickly removed the wrapping and look at it. There was no infection, which was good, and the wound was not going to leave too much of a scar. I gingerly touched the area and the leg twitched. That momentary flexing made part of me twitch too and I was glad I was wearing a robe. "I not bad. Healing fine. Let air out for a bit then re-wrap it." He nodded and sat down again. I slipped out of the alcove to get him something to wear as small clothes. When I went back in he was reclining again. "Here. Wear if you want." He looked at the breachclout and shook his head. I shrugged and left it on the table next to him.

I was doing my best to be clinical, but I could not stop myself from going to his bedside and caressing his face as I leaned in for a kiss. He returned it with a smoldering passion I had never encountered in an elf. If he had his way he would be kissing me for hours, that is what his lips told me. If I had my way I would kiss him for the rest of his natural life. As I pulled away he pulled me into the cot with him. "How do you do it?" I looked at him quizzically. "I have not felt this alive in years." His eyes took a distant look. "It was a goblin raid that took my beloved from me. I had asked a young lady to help me with the one thing I could not get; a child. I wanted someone to raise and care for and she was happy to help, she'd done the same for other couples who could not have a child." I nodded. It was very common in the more prolific species and humans the worst. Half their children died before their first year. He wore a sad smile. "She became dear to me, but nothing more than a very good friend and the mother of my two girls." The smile he wore was one of fond memories. "They were my jewels, my princesses. Twins as alike as apple pips. They were two years old when the goblins raided. They and their mother died." I reached up and wiped away a tear. "I was fifteen then. I...it was the first time I had killed anything. I killed with my wood ax and stood numb as I watched the killers die of mortal wounds I had inflicted.

"Since then I have trained everyday against the time I will kill every goblin I come across. I have never found a measure of relief, a moment of humanity. Then I open my eyes to see you and it's like...I found something that was untouched by the evil in the world." I smiled at the oblique compliment. He had seen my caring side only. I was by far one of the more wicked of my people. I killed many creatures simply to remove a possible threat to someone or thing I cared for whether or not that particular creature deserved it. "You find that comment amusing?"

"I not that pure, Jacob."

"Kiven, do you kill for the sake of killing? For the fun of it? For greed? To hear the creature scream and beg for mercy?" I shook my head at each question. "Then you are not evil. Every kill you have dealt has been as swift as possible, I bet." I nodded again. He seemed to see directly into my soul, knowing how I acted even so soon after meeting me. "You are a good person, Kiven. So different from what I had learned of elves. You...give me hope for a brighter day. For that you have my thanks and my love."

He had said it! He had said the most powerful word in all of living. He loved me. There was nothing I wanted to hear more. "Jacob, I not speak you language well to say what I want."

"If you speak Dwarven I know that as well."

I hid my shock well, I think. Most humans find other languages hard to get right. I smiled an switched to Dwarven. "My friend, I am very glad to have saved you. You have filled me with more happiness in these past hours than I have ever felt. I found in you the part of my heart I have been missing." He smiled at me and at how formal I was being. There was Dwarven and there was Dwarven. The common dialect would not do for something like this. "I was not whole until you came into my life." The next tear I wiped away was one of joy. I switched back to his native tongue. "You make me happy. I love you."

"Kiven?" came my Father's voice from the entryway. My eyes widened and I slipped out of the alcove making sure the curtains hid every part of Jacob.

"Yes, my Father?"

"I have to tell you that more goblins have been sited along Tiradel Pass and to expect wounded. The whole tribe except for the youngsters will be going." He left then and I could see through the door that he was not lying. Every able bodied elf was preparing for battle, wearing cold, determined faces like armor. I shut the door and began to gather everything I would need. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I felt one of the aa'mak open a portal to the Pass. I knew when it closed because there was an audible snap.

"Jacob, we need to get you out of now," I said in Dwarven.

"I heard. I need to get up to that pass." He threw back the curtains to show he was wearing his armor and huge ax.

"No way! You are staying here." I realize how silly I sounded saying he needed to leave and then told him he had to stay here.

"Kiven, please! One of them might lead me to the tribe that killed my people!" I knew why he had wanted to go but he would be killed in his weakened condition...but how could I say no when he was pleading with his eyes? Gods above they were so eloquent when he felt strongly. "Please."

I left the infirmary and found the person I knew would be here still. "Flora, I need a portal to the Pass." She looked at me like I was insane. "It's that or my patient is probably going to walk."

"What? In his condition?" I nodded. She let out a very foul expletive that I was glad no elf child had heard. "Let me guess he used his eyes." I nodded. "Fine." She limped quickly into the infirmary. "Jacob, of Ivywell, listen well. If you go and get yourself killed and hurt my soul sibling I will torture your spirit for the rest of my life. Do you hear me?" He nodded with a cynical smirk on his face. "Then stand still." She began to cast a spell that I knew she only used in dire need. This was not dire need, his life was not threatened. This need was a matter of the heart, mine. His entire body began to glow a bright white as her healing spell began to take effect. All the little hurts I had dismissed were closing and healing before my eyes, the leg not as much because of the tincture's healing properties. She ended the incantation and shook her head. The spell took a lot out of her. "You will have maybe an hour before you collapse. Most of the energy for that came from you, so use your time well." He nodded as I grabbed my war mace, a wicked spiked club of metal ensorcelled to always strike a clean kill. I also pulled on my battle leathers and a light breastplate. A half-helm went on my head and plate boots.

When I rejoined Jacob Flora was nearly completed with her spell. "I thought elves wore no armor."

"This from the War." He nodded. "I good fighter, but I am needed to heal. Besides, someone watch your back." He nodded. He was also checking me out. I admit to some conceit that I look good in the armor. The hairs on my neck stood up and between us and Flora was a portal made for standard travel, not like the one the entire tribe which had to be open for a lot longer.

"Meet up with the tribe or its a very long walk back." A day at an elf's jog no human could hope to match. We ran through and into the perpetual snows of the Tiradel Pass.

We were atop the canyon wall looking down at the goblin tribes marching lines. This was odd enough because goblins did not march and they had no order in the tribe except a pecking order. Plus there were at least seven tribes out there when goblins did not band together. Something was wrong here and I could tell Jacob knew this also. His eyes were searching for some sign. "There," he whispered so softly even my keen ears almost missed it over the winds that howled year round through the Pass. He was pointing to one of the goblin tribes, one of the largest I had ever seen. At least twenty thousand strong, it would take my whole tribe to bring just that one down. I could see that these goblins wore some sort of marking in there armor, a black claw. It tickled in the back of my memory, that black claw, but I could not call the information forth. I nodded and we slipped down the way and I readied one of the few inherent spells I had.

"Hold on," I mouthed and he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I leaped off the wall and enacted the spell. We slowed as we fell and became feather light as we touched down silently in the snow behind the goblins. He let go and nodded at the three in the back. He was so focused on this that I was worried for him.

With more speed that I would have given him credit for he dashed up and struck to knock out not kill. When I got there he had pulled out a coil of rope from his small pack and bound them tightly. Once they were secured he stood and looked at me, a fire burning within the depths of his eyes and I knew what he was planning even before he lifted his weapon. The unusual part was how I raised my own. I was not here for blood, but I could see why he was driven. Goblins were rapacious murders hellbent on killing and pillaging anything they could. It would be doing the world a favor to rid it of a few more of them. My grip tightened and I gave a curt nod before we stealthily began picking of the back goblins one by one. His mighty ax simply cleaved them in twain from shoulder to hip. They had no chance to even cry out before they died.

I raced to the other edge to start there, my mace slamming down in the back of the skull where the brain met the spine. I would not have chosen that spot, but my mace did. It would only strike clean kills. I danced to the next kill and spun onto the next even before the body fell to the snow to leak its crimson life force and stain it. There was a time where I rolled past Jacob as we switched sides and he merely stepped over me as if he knew I would do just that. Our dance of death was silent, stealthy and working until one goblin turned his head to sneeze and saw Jacob wading through their ranks. He raised the alarm and the goblins spun far faster than I would have ever thought they could. These were no ordinary goblins, they were trained and honed to the best edge they could be. The fought as well as any human could, a feat I would have said was impossible for a goblin. Our weapons flashed in the sun and glinted off the walls. The roars of the goblins echoed around and almost covered the sound of our weapons clanging. I was faced off against five goblins and I twirled around with a kick and I slammed down the mace at the same time in the opposite direction. Two dropped, one dead the other with a broken nose, and I pirouetted out of the way of a slice.

Jacob was spinning his ax faster than any human could and he was leaving dead goblins by the dozens in his wake. I had speed on my side, but his powerful body was in top condition and he just left carnage wherever he went. He had taken a few scratches, but nothing I could see that was going to need attention. One goblin got in a lucky parry an but that only delayed the inevitable because Jacob simply brought the other side to bear and removed the goblin's head.

The canyon was filled with a loud thrum that seemed to come from everywhere. I grabbed Jacob by the shoulder and threw him to the side as a thousand arrows fell into the ranks. I joined him and sidled to the side to go tend to our prisoners. My tribe was there now and would finish what we had started. He saw that when the first ball of fire the size of a horse rained down on the foe. With a look of frustration he took a breath and quelled his temper to help me. "Your people are efficient," he said with grudging respect. "I can see why my people have feared yours for generations."