Twins of Trallis: Sandstorm

Crying out softly as a sudden gust of her own warm breath tugged the silky white veil away to reveal the enchanted pixie like quality of her face in the dancing flames of the torches. She snatched the veil from the air; her thundering heart quickened as the beat of a drum wove it's spell. Tiny feet pivoted in a maddening dance across the sands. The muted ringing of the hidden bells were in counterpoint to the drumming as she released her innocent disguise to flutter as if lost in the wind, only to land delicately at the feet of Lady Caprice.

The Lady lifted the silk and smiled, folding it over the arm of her chair as she continued to watch the small girl dance away, wondering of her heritage.

Nyx slid dainty hands up from the base of her neck gathering strands of her silken hair upwards. Her emerald eyes clouded with despair momentarily as they drifted to the heavens in a silent prayer. A sheer veil of blue encircled her slender lender legs and ankles holding her captive in a realm of sadness. Her dance showed her heart ached to soar for one who can Master her heart and soul.

Her bare feet twisted and turned a frantic spin trying to unlock the thread of silk muting the delicate bells about her ankles. The blue veil drifted to the ivory sand as the battle was won. Silver bells rang brightly to release the burden of loneliness within and transform her into a creature of wanton sensuality. Swept up in a delicate hand, Nyx swayed and leapt in joy at her freedom laying the blue silk within the hands of Lady Fia, who unlike Lady Caprice blushed and giggled a "Thank you."

Dancing and spinning as she let go of the second blue silk, Lord Toka grinned as he leaned back letting it float into his lap a wide smile beaming from his broad friendly face. Lord Arimus and Lord Gabriel sat together. Falling to the sand she crawled to their feet in sinuous movement her fire and passion for men of power showing in her eyes, floating up to her feet smoothly she swayed before them, plucking at the green silks that hid her arm bands from the world.

As the ribbon of green silk won free she trailed it over her breasts arching delicately backward as the pink pointed mounds rose and fell with her heated breath. The undulating hips teased at the yellow silk riding low on her hips giving teasing glimpses of supple thighs. She plucked the second green silk free and with a flourish from the flutes she threw the silks up into the air to catch them once more and gently lay them over each lord's left shoulder.

Approaching Lord Nadra, Nyx arched her delicate ankles making her shapely legs flex as she spun in an intricate dance around him. Waves of tawny silken strands wrapped about her lithe frame. Flared hips swayed offering a taunting invitation to his gaze ever so provocatively. Nyx parted her sultry lips with a low gasp as delicate fingers grazed the rosy swells of her breasts while they journeyed to tease the rich purple veil tied about her slender neck.

Nyx flicked her fingertips to toss the purple veil aside revealing a slender neck wrapped in steel that marked her as a possession. Flames ignited within her shown in the heat of her movements and the fire of her eyes shone with furious intensity. Her breathlessness sung from softly parted lips as she sank beneath his heated gaze to invitingly parted knees, offering up the dropped purple silk in her hands to him. Taking the silk he stroked her cheek, a small smile tugging her lips as she unfurled from her kneel to dance away again in a series of leaps and twists.

Trailing a long nailed hand over the chest of Lord Ekeynui Nyx danced behind him before offering the end of a pink silk ribbon to him and twirling away letting it unbind and free her breasts to full view. Pulling the silk into a ball Ekeynui caressed it not tearing his eyes from the nearly nude girl.

Gliding back to the centre as if walking on air, wispy yellow silk swayed low on her flared hips with each erotic step that carried her closer to the warrior of the Horse Lords. His hazel eyes burned deep into her sending waves of sensual heat through delicate veins fuelled by the beat of the drums and the pipes sensual melody. Her slender arms wove heavenward as freedom screamed its final melody her eyes flaming with feverish desire locked with those of the Horse Lord.

The intensity was broken a moment later by the call of cymbals, urging her into motion again. Tiny hips swayed side to side, golden veil fluttering to expose her slender thighs. Nyx's fingertips teased her sensuous curves as they trailed down her body to pluck the veil free. With a giggle and a flick of her supple wrist, the silk drifted into the air to teasingly flutter onto Lord Haef's lap. Haef looked to Iken and nodded approvingly before turning his attention back to the girl in the dance pit.

She was close to her Mahan now; he stood behind Lord Iken watching carefully as she moaned softly and sank to her knees before them. Willowy arms snaked along each side of her golden head her emerald eyes aflame with passion she looked at her Masters. Her back arched perfectly, bowing her body sensually before them revealing the crimson silk hiding her heated flesh that throbbed for her Masters touch.

"Please Master, tear the last veil away," she begged breathlessly.

Nyx gasped as her heated flesh was assaulted with the kiss of cool air. The brush of his fingers in passing caused her hips to writhe in time to the melody. Fingertips from one hand traced wantonly across her taut belly leaving marks barely felt as the magic of the moment and the sand that glowed on her body flowed within her. Falling back to the sand she lifted her emerald eyes to him hoping he found her pleasing.

A sea of emotions flooded Nyx as her Master smiled at her and joy showed on her lovely face. Her crimson lips quivered as she slithered to her knees to display her elfin beauty. Her toned, heart-shaped ass rested upon the delicate heels of her small feet. Squirming in uncontained need, her satin thighs widened and Nyx took a deep breath and bowed forward letting her hair tumble to the floor in a wave. She offered up her crossed wrists in helpless surrender to the Master, a symbol of her servitude.

There was a brief lull of silence as the drums ceased before Nadra laughed, "Fuck it, take my money. It was worth it to see the stoic Horse Lord get a hard on over something that didn't have four feet and a saddle," roaring with laughter Nadra held up his cup for more wine. Haef glowered at the drunk Lord of the North but let it go silently.

The eunuchs approached with the dark swathes of material once more covering the naked girl, as she remained kneeling at Iken's feet. It was Mahan though who picked her up and carried her from the room. "Get the eunuch's to take her back to my tent Mahan it seems I have a wager to collect," Iken smirked at Nadra not wanting Mahan to leave the gathering.

Nadra laughed all the more as Gabriel approached and tossed the pouches to Iken, "Now about this offer for her you would have trouble refusing; it might be nice to have a little entertainment up north like that one." Still chuckling Nadra walked over to Arimus, "So old boy, who do I need to bribe to get the recipe for your Koumiss?"

Iken was in his element. He loved intrigue, and he planned to make the most of the remaining time of the fair. More jugs were called for. Each region had their own specialty and procuring them all had cost him dearly, particularly the Koumis of the southern regions, no matter how hard the goat milk brewers of his own realm tried they could not match its smoothness or piquancy.

Iken had had men watching each party carefully during Nyx's dance and as the evening concluded the men gathered with their Lord to discuss what they had seen and heard during the dance. Iken's eyes danced wickedly through each of the reports. It would seem each of the lord's and ladies had reacted in some way but the report that intrigued him the most was not about any of the leaders but that of a green robed man in Arimus's party of men. Green meant he was a physician and Iken would make a point to seek him out the following day.

*****

The following day, during breakfast Iken had been interrupted by the Lord Haef and his second. Inviting them in to share his breakfast he asked no questions rather waiting to find out why they had come. It was not Haef though that spoke, rather his second that took the lead his bright green eyes serious as he weighed his words.

"Can you tell me of the final dancing girl's origins?" The handsome man spoke. Iken gauged him as being in his middle years and a man holding a fierce temper in check.

"What do I care of a slaves origins," Iken shrugged negligently. "It is enough that I own her is it not?"

The man bristled and Iken could see the green eyes flare behind the mask of calm. "The girl seems familiar to me and it has come to my attention in recent years that a woman of my clan may have been sold into slavery, I wonder if your dancing girl is perhaps her daughter. Could I speak with the girl?"

"It could be arranged," Iken said shrewdly, "But the girl is not for sale, beyond the briefest of words you may have with her, you would have no claim to her collar. She is a very valuable piece of slave flesh and I have been offered kingdoms for her after last night's display." Iken sent one of his men in search of Mahan and the girl.

Moments later a second visitor was shown into the tent of the Sand lord to the surprise of those already gathered. Lord Arimus followed by his second and the physician entered and stood stiffly looking at the Horse Lords.

"I am quite the popular Lord this morning," Iken chuckled, "And what brings you here this fine morning gentlemen? Did my dancer also appeal to you?"

"The physician feels he may have knowledge of the dancers parentage," Lord Arimus said stiffly, "I am here to see that his suspicions are put to rest one way or the other."

Iken was thrilled with the turn of events, especially when Lord Toka arrived with his nephew, and demanded to test the girl for storm-dancer power as she seemed familiar to a girl dancer who was presumed dead and recent information had lead them to believe her abducted instead.

The four powerful Lords all eyed each other with a mixture of hostility and interest when Mahan arrived with Nyx. Dressed in the diaphanous garb of a harem girl, she went first to kneel before Iken and asked sweetly, "How may I serve you, my Lord?"

"You make me so proud little one," Iken smiled down on Nyx. "Each of these men believes they know of your heritage and wondered what you knew of your origins. It will not matter, as you belong to me, but to settle curiosities tell us what you remember of your childhood."

Nyx turned her head to look at the assembled group and swallowed nervously before looking up at Mahan who nodded in her direction.

"It was long ago and the memory is dim now," she started softly looking at Iken and speaking directly to him.

Her father, she thought he was a healer of some sort, had died suddenly leaving her and her mother no option but to try to seek out safety with her own family and they had travelled to that end. They travelled from their small village in the mountains down through the grasslands before slavers picked them up along their route and she had been sold into slavery to the desert people as a child. The memories were dim and unhelpful. She remembered the mountains and grasslands vaguely but all else was lost to her. The questions she was asked by each of the men in the tent did nothing to jog her memories or offer further information.

Rhys who had stood behind Lord Haef and his brother, Badon, stepped forward and unable to help himself blurted, "She even sounds like Dana as well as looking much as she did when we lost her."

Iken swung his head toward the green robed physician in time to see him recoil from the name, Dana, as if slapped and the second of Lord Toka nodded, "She is just as Kerys was when I first met her." He pulled a small light sphere from his pocket and held it out to the girl, "Take this, please."

Nyx looked up at Iken for permission but he shook his head. "I think that is a test for another time when it can be judged more accurately." His gaze went back to the green robed man.

Janus was aghast at the revelations. He, of course, knew Dana's story and he looked at the men in the tent realizing these must be the brothers of the storm-dancer legends and the man with Lord Toka must be the husband of Kerys. How had they found out about Dana he wondered and was on the verge of asking, when another man entered the tent of Lord Iken unannounced.

"It would seem," the bleary eyed Lord Nadra announced, "That the council meeting has been moved to your tent today." He looked around at the group. "I am most put out that you didn't think to invite me Iken, my friend, when I was trying so hard to wrestle that recipe you wanted from Arimus all night. Might I suggest you bring the matters at hand to the council tent I am sure we would all like a say in a matter that involves four of the nine realms.

The leaders murmured assent and began to withdraw, but Iken was still focused on the physician, who still looked at the girl kneeling between them. "Lord Arimus," he called, "The man with you is a physician you said? The reputation of the physicians of Stolle precedes them. Perhaps after the meeting he could prescribe me some balm to ease my old bones, in the dry desert heat."

Arimus grunted in a non-committal way but Iken saw the look of interest flash over the doctor's face before they left the tent and reassembled in the council hall. Janus was mulling over what he had seen and he heard. If he admitted that he knew that Dana was the mother of Nyx he endangered her from his own countrymenas well as any others. Arimus's supporters did not like to leave the children of deposed Lord's alive to claim title to the throne. He also realized that while, somehow information had got out that Dana had, in fact, been abducted rather than having died as originally thought on the night of her sister's wedding feast, and that there was a child, they did not seem to know that she was a twin. How could they, he smiled to himself, even those who had been in the room that day, twenty years ago. had only seen the birth of the first of Dana's daughters.

He could admit to Dana having a child by Gerahn and discount the girl as being her as she bore no brand but then the search would continue and he thought of the girl he knew as Allora and would not wish to put her in any more danger than she already would be now that the men of Stolle had seen her mirror image here at the Council of Nine. He decided to stay silent, no one had any proof, no one could for any certainty claim they knew the girls origins. If he stayed silent life as they knew it could go on for the two girls.

He knew that was wishful thinking though, in his mind he had already decided he would need entreat his lord to send Allora and Clio high into the mountains lest she was recognized within the palace grounds. If he spoke up here at council deliberations he would be condemning the dancer to a bitter struggle within the clans for her return and at worst assassination attempts from Arimus's loyal followers, whether the accusations decreed true or not. It was better to say nothing; he had convinced himself. The girl looked happy and well cared for despite her slavery, and he knew all too well there could be worse fates.

Mahan turned to Iken after their departure and demanded, "What is it you plan to do?"

"Absolutely nothing!" Iken had chuckled. "They have rumor and innuendo that is all, not one shred of proof that I could see but..." and he tapped the side of his nose, "I think the green robe knows the truth, he looked positively ill when he heard what the others had to say."

"Haef's men are the brothers of the storm-dance legend. They will be hard to dissuade," Mahan murmured preparing in his mind for a fight to hold onto the tiny dancer he loved.

"Let us see what the council deliberations bring us this morning before we choose a path." Iken could see the tension in his chieftain, "You and Nyx will accompany us to save the time it would take to fetch her once the accusations begin." He knew well Mahan's misgivings and shared some of them but his love of intrigue and politics made him look upon coming proceedings with a sense of excitement.

The delegates from each realm had assembled again to form the council of nine and the tensions between the men of Stolle and the horse lords of Cavalia were palpable. The absence of the physician, Janus, was noted and Arimus stepped forward to speak on his behalf claiming that the girl was daughter to a physician that trained with Janus, he had died an untimely death and his family had fled before Janus could make the journey to offer them shelter in the palace grounds.

It was Rhys who stepped forward saying that a freed slave woman had journeyed to the clan of the Horse Lord to tell them of a great wrong doing. A horsewoman named Dana had lived when all else thought her dead. She had taken the name Nyx and lived an unhappy existence. Weak and unwell she had died in childbirth. The child had been raised by the slave woman and her husband until his early death and he had tasked his wife with finding a healer in the grasslands named Hohepa. As they travelled to the grasslands to seek out the child's mother's clan, they had been captured and sold into slavery. The woman had loved the child and once free again she sought out the healer and told him her tale.

Keharn concurred with the horse lord's story adding that his wife, the sister of Dana never initially believed that she had passed over into the great unknown. It was sometime later that she said she had dreamt that Dana was free and happy and finally let the search for her sister die.

After allowing the petitions to come forth, Iken stood and looked around at the gathering of lords and Ladies, "They are all wonderful tales and I feel for each of you in what you say, but there is no proof that this girl is anything more than a slave and dancer. She has lived with the people of my realm for the last decade, where were you all then? I put it to you that the desire to own one such as she has created these entreaties for her release from servitude."

Three of the men rose to their feet, shouting their sincerity. Iken waved his hands at them, "I know you brothers of legend and you Sealord in waiting. Do not think to intimidate me with your status amongst this council, for whatever reason, the girl was sold into slavery, she belongs rightfully to me, and I will not hand over such a valuable commodity on supposition and say so."

"At least let her hold the orb of the storm-dancers," the softly spoken Lady Camille said. "It cannot hurt to see if it glows, and then we can talk of proof."

Once again Keharn took an orb from his pocket and approached Nyx with a kind smile, "Will you come with me to the center of the tent? No harm will come to you; I promise."

Nyx looked to Mahan fear in her eyes, then to Iken who nodded but frowned and she floated up from her kneel to her feet and took the hand offered to her. Keharn handed the orb to Mahan who chose to follow them, "Inspect the orb if you will. I would not like my position as a storm-dancer called into question here." He stepped back from the girl and Mahan rolled the dimly lit sphere in his hands several times before handing it to Nyx.

The orb seemed like all others of its kind. A white glow emanated from it and its contents swirled like bright white clouds. Looking unsure he waited until Keharn had stepped back before handing the orb to Nyx. The orb pulsed and changed rather than glowing brightly white. Its throbbing with her heartbeat as it would have had she been a storm dancer, but it instead pulsed deeply and changed from white to a deep golden glow. It was as if the clouds of white energy trapped within the sphere had turned to clouds of sand. Nyx was mesmerized by the transformation and totally oblivious to the gasps and incredulous cries from the watchers inside the tent.