Tears in a Dry Land Ch. 05

Several days later, when the other guests had departed, Sophia received an invitation to join Yunan in his private rooms high up in the fortress. As she entered, he was sitting at a small window open to the night sky, coals burning in a brazier nearby warming the chill from the night breeze.

Yunan beckoned her over and showed her the many different constellations which could be seen. Sophia was entranced.

"The stars here are so different from those I remember at my father's house."

Yunan nodded. "It is a long way from here -- several days journey on horseback and then a long boat ride along the coast before you come to your homeland. Do your family know you are alive?"

He seemed to ask the question without any real enquiry, belying the furious argument he had had with Penelope several days earlier. His daughter was convinced messengers should be sent to Sophia's father asking him to visit, but Yunan would not allow it.

He was still very conscious of the threats posed to Sophia's life by those who had kidnapped her originally - the less people who knew of her whereabouts the better. Ikton and Muras were lifelong friends of his who would not disclose anything they learned during their stay with him.

Indeed they had both departed with requests to listen for any enquiries into the disappearance of a pregnant dancing girl from a desert town.

Sophia shook her head "I did not remember who I was until I came here. The scents from the oils brought so much back to me."

"I thought it might be that way." Yunan sighed. "I am so angry with myself for not recognising you - knowing you - when you were brought here all those months ago."

"You had not seen me since I was a small child, how could you recognise me?"

"I see the child in you now; that girl you were - you still are."

Sophia smiled, her eyes no longer empty and haunted, but dancing and twinkling like the stars outside in the sky.

"You have given me back to myself, my Lord. I shall be forever in your debt."

Yunan rose from his seat, approaching her as she sat facing him.

"My dear Sophia, I have wronged you deeply. You carry my child, through circumstances so abhorrent, I cannot express my regret sufficiently strongly," he knelt before her, his head bowed, "please forgive me."

Sophia's hand reached out to touch his shoulder, feeling once more the pulse of life between them.

"Hush," she murmured, sliding down onto the floor so she could look into his eyes, "you could not know. We were both pawns in a great game and I fear it may have been my father who gave your enemies their idea."

"Your father?"

"I remember once, as you were leaving, he made a chance remark in the presence of some other guests about the possibility of an alliance between our two houses. I remember the eyes of one man fell upon me and his look frightened me."

Yunan's face contorted with rage, "I will find them," he promised, "all of them or if they come upon me first, they will regret it!"

"Please," Sophia's small hands rested on the backs of his, "none of that was your doing. You have brought me here, made me safe, given me back myself, you have done so much!"

Yunan rose to his feet, drawing her up with him, although she hardly reached his shoulder. "Those days you spent here when you came as part of the dancing troupe - you touched me. I knew there was more to you than simply a ..." he faltered.

"A mindless dancer?"

"Yes. More than anything or anyone I had encountered since Penelope's mother died. Each moment we spent together your beauty and skills took my breath away. I could no more keep my body from yours than I could deny myself a glass of clear water on a summer's day. You made me feel alive, when I had convinced myself that parts of me were content to die with my wife.

"When it was clear they set a fire just to spirit you away after the fourth night, I had to seek you."

Sophia began to shudder and he drew her closer, his arm tentatively on her shoulders, "You remember something of it?"

"I do not understand how it was. I believe they drugged me more heavily than usual to stop me escaping until we were many days away from here, but over and over I saw the same scene.

"It seemed as if I were you and I saw the fire through your eyes. I saw the flames consuming the banqueting hall, the chains of servants with buckets. I heard the screams of the women as they were herded into the deepest part of the mountain away from the fire, but you did not leave - you were in the midst of everything.

"I remember the rug you used to beat out the flames, soaking it in water as you went into the rooms to bring out what you could. I saw the brand which fell on you, which knocked you unconscious? It always went black then and I saw no more."

Yunan cleared his throat, wondering what to make of Sophia's disclosure.

"There is no need to concern yourself, Sophia. I was dragged to safety after the beam fell on me. It was just a glancing blow, but the fire was enough to concentrate our minds elsewhere and by the time I came to wonder where you might be, all their tracks were cold and long-covered by the sand."

Sophia pointed towards his neck. "May I?" she asked, "I have wanted to assure myself of the extent of your hurt since we first met."

Yunan smiled, sitting down again on the padded window seat so she could sit beside him close enough for her to examine his scar. He pulled the collar of his silk jacket aside so she might inspect it at her leisure. With great care she touched the scar gently with her two index fingers of her left hand. He flinched, but did not pull away.

"The tenderness," he explained, "it is easily confused with pain."

Sophia thought for a moment. For some reason, the treatment of burns was something she knew. She could not remember when or why, but she remembered the plants which were used to aid the healing.

"There is a cactus - a thick, succulent plant - it is very soothing. If it grows around here and your people know of it, I could make an ointment for you, if you would allow me."

"That would be most welcome. My physician is a skilled man, but he does not know everything."

Emboldened by their growing rapport, Sophia asked leave to bring another matter before him.

Yunan nodded, "Anything I can do - to make some amends -- you only have to ask."

"This may be too much - I do not know. The child..." she rubbed her belly unconsciously as she spoke. "Do you intend to acknowledge her?"

Yunan laid his hand on top of hers. "I acknowledge this child as mine. Nothing will be wanted for. You shall be cared for and shall be protected under my roof."

Sophia gazed intently at his face, as if wanting to imprint every detail upon her mind, her hand moving to his chin to trace the outline of the bone structure into her fingertips.

"I still fear I am a danger to you."

Yunan's hand moved to softly capture hers, lifting it to his lips.

"It was me they sought to ensnare. You were the bait. I was always the one in danger. You do not endanger me. I endanger myself because I will not bow to these fools. I will keep you safe and you and our child will keep me sane. Stay with me - say you agree...?"

Sophia's answer was very simple. "I cannot leave you."

Yunan pressed his lips against her hand. "I would not let you - but I would not imprison you."

Sophia brought his hand down once more to rest on the top of her belly. "When you did this in the market place, what did you do?"

"I do not truly know. It is a thing that used to happen sometimes between my brother and I -- very, very seldom. He could lay a hand on me and sense my thoughts. I was never able to do it for him.

"Then, when my daughter was born - and when she was little - sometimes I could almost sense it in her - almost see through her eyes, but it was foggy and unclear. When I laid my hand on you, it was a shocking sensation, like being plunged into the sea."

Sophia closed her eyes. "You describe how it was for me. I do not know how they held me, how they closed off my mind. Maybe it was drugs, maybe something else, for I remember chanting and drumming and strange smells before I was left on my own in the house where you found me, but there was always swirling."

As Yunan stopped talking, the world s l o w e d. He could feel the powerful, burning energy of new life within her. It was as much as he could do to force words into his mouth.

"Can - can you feel anything?" he managed at last.

"You are with us both."

His hands moved smoothly over her swelling, caressing carefully, now using both hands, smiling quietly - the smile a strange addition to his normally sombre features.

"There is something else I remember," she began, "even though they sought to gag me. When you entered me and poured your seed into my womb, I felt it. I saw it travelling inside me like an arrow seeking its target. You left part of yourself with me."

Yunan looked into her eyes, searching for something - seeking an answer, seeking the truth.

"I know that. Somehow I felt it too. I sought you knowing I needed to find what had become of you - not just to solve a mystery, but because you and something you carried would be utterly crucial to me. Now you are here."

"I am here and we are able to share more than they thought to remove from you."

He opened his arms to receive her, enclosing her in a warm embrace. She was home.