Chapter 2

Someone was ringing a gong. Jake Hedron opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Last night his exiled wife, marooned on Earth, had visited him in his dreams. 'Dream-walking, ' she called it. It had been more than three months since she'd been exiled. Now, she lived alone on a dead, baked world.

She'd actually told him she was happy with her life there – that she enjoyed the challenges of surviving in a barren, hostile wasteland where the sun cooks everything to a nice even hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit every day. Extreme living, she'd called it. He sat up on the bed, wondering if she'd really appeared to him, or if he'd dreamed it.

"Both," a female voice said from the doorway to his room.

He looked up. It was that hated blonde witch who'd accused his wife of criminal negligence and gotten her exiled.

"What do you want?" Jake asked, unable to keep his hatred out of his voice.

"Your wife violated her exile," Elaine said quietly.

"What are you going to do about it?" sneered Jake. "Throw her into the sun?"

"No, and don't act stupid," Elaine told him. "She found the Praetor that was hidden on Earth. That's something we both wanted to happen."

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, unwilling to believe the white witch Elaine might be an ally.

"The Praetor gave her the power to dream-walk," Elaine explained. "The Praetor is our ultimate lawgiver. There's nothing I can do to keep her from you. There's nothing I even want to do about that. I simply wanted you to know that I know, and there will be no consequences."

"Very big of you, 'Goddess'," he replied sarcastically. "You've been out-ranked, so you've decided everything's okay and wonderful! Great! Goodbye!"

"You're acting like a fool!" Elaine snarled at him. "I would have sent your family's murderess to your Earth's South Pole! It's the only Temperate Zone left! But I had a vision. She was to find the Praetor."

"The South Pole..." Jake began angrily.

"Silence!" the Golden Goddess commanded. "It is possible that this entire timeline will cease to exist. Don't be frightened if things around you start to disappear. It will mean she won. She'll have saved us all. That could be what finding that Praetor means to all of us – her opportunity to redeem herself by changing history."

Elaine's hair and white justice gown and cape flared out as she turned away and departed.

Jake sat on the bed for another moment. Then the sound that had awakened him occurred again – the breakfast bell at university hall. He rose, washed his face and smoothed down his hair. A quick stop in the latrine (the locals called it a 'water room') and he was on his way to the food line. He felt better than he had felt for three months. He felt ... hope. As he trotted to university hall, he kept focusing on various objects, hoping things would start disappearing.

Elaine walked a ways down the hall, then teleported back to her mansion. It was time for breakfast. Her life-mate was preparing something special, just for her. Today was their two-hundredth anniversary – the celebration of the day when she and Jacob had shared their life-blood with each other in a special ceremony which both of them had written, bonding them together for eternity.

Jacob brought out the main breakfast course – a fresh baked, heavy sweet bread made from apples and raisins, accompanied by four dozen sausage rolls. Elaine rose so she could be seated when her life-mate sat down. As she bit into the hot bread, she missed the nuts that would have been in it if they were living on old earth. Nuts didn't grow here. Walnuts did, but they were too rare and were needed to grow more trees.

"It's delicious, My Love," Elaine said. Jacob looked at her – into her eyes. They glistened with her love for him. He was pleased that he could affect the powerful goddess with his cooking.

After breakfast, Elaine gave the household staff instructions not to come onto the third floor. That was her sanctuary – her home. She and Jacob would spend the day together. As Jacob followed her upstairs, he was surprised that his goddess stopped to see Jeff, the Bard Geoffrey, for a moment. She kissed and hugged him like she was going to leave on a long journey.

Finally, they were alone. "Would you like to fly with me?" she asked, closing the door behind her.

Jacob looked a little confused. Elaine came to him and kissed him passionately. He reached up to cup her breasts in his hands. She grinned, breaking her kiss with him. "That tickles," she lied. "Take off your clothes, My Love."

She began to disrobe, hanging her dress carefully on the rack especially built for it. For some reason, today, it slid off. Jacob started to pick it up.

"Don't bother," she told him.

"But it'll wrinkle," Jacob argued.

"It doesn't matter," Elaine replied.

Jacob picked it up anyway and hung it carefully. She smiled at him and climbed onto their bed. Jacob stood at the foot of the bed and began to massage her feet. She smiled and scooted down so he could reach them easier.

He carefully tended each toe on each foot, then moved down to her arches. Elaine moaned in pleasure as he gently bent her foot around his closed hand, moving bones in her feet that had been compressed and aching. She hadn't even known her feet could feel that wonderful.

"Where did you learn that, Love?" she asked, looking down her naked body at him.

"I've begun studying anatomy," he replied. "Specifically, the Art of Massage."

"You're hired," Elaine murmured at the ceiling.

Jacob grinned and moved up to her ankles. In the next half-hour, he found and massaged out every kinked muscle in both her legs. "Turn over," he quietly commanded.

Elaine flipped onto her stomach. She groaned happily as she felt both of Jacob's loving hands on her buttocks – massaging them and making her feel wonderful. Then he moved up to her lower back. Some time later, he finally reached her shoulders.

There was something else happening by then – a minor problem Jacob was doing his best to ignore. His goddess noticed it, too. Her very favorite part of Jacob was calling to his very favorite part of her. Elaine opened her mind to him to find out what he intended to do about his problem. Then she moaned and wiggled her rump that he was sitting on while he massaged her shoulders.

"You're up too high, Darling," Elaine cooed. "Scoot down a bit."

Jacob chuckled, realizing that she'd had enough non-sexual contact for today. He slid down her legs, letting his hard cock drop down between them. Then he slid back up until the head of his cock was pressing against her vulva.

Elaine moaned and wiggled her rump again as Jacob pressed forward and positioned himself so that his cockhead was pressing against the right place. Then she raised up a little bit, letting him know it was okay to proceed. Jacob pressed forward more ardently now.

Elaine moaned her pleasure at him as she felt her pussy stretch to accommodate his girth. He completely filled her, now, and she knew he wasn't all the way in yet. He began moving back, almost lifting her off the bed from the suction inside her as he moved. He began gently fucking her, listening to her breathing as he moved in and out.

After a few moments, she began sub-vocalizing her needs as they made love. Yes! He could hear her say it with each breath she exhaled. In addition, mind-linked with her, he could feel what she felt – knew exactly what was going on in her body, her mind, her soul.

Today, his goddess' soul was incredibly sad and he didn't know why. But he was determined to make her feel better – the only way he knew how – to feed her and love her. Today he was doing both, as he did most days. But today was the anniversary of their bonding. Today, he would worship her from her toes to her nose. He grinned to himself at the rhyme he made, but he was serious about making her happier.