Chapter 19

Never had the sun shone so bright and warming north of The Teeth before spring had even come. The breeze was chilling and sharp as it rolled off the mountains and swirled along the rise and fall of the open hilly country, but next to a lifetime of winters in the North, the breeze here was but a refreshingly cool caress.

The wind touched everything. It combed through the flat plains to the south, teasing patterns from the high, dense grasses. Ripples and waves, and the constant, minute movements of the face of an ever shifting and changing sea. The breeze ruffled through the leaves of tall and twisting trees both solitary and crowded together, like fingers stroking through a lover's hair.

The plains were not as frantic with life as they would be in the spring of course, even south of The Teeth. But there was still plentiful plant life to forage for, and enough wild things scurrying about in the tall browning grasses to hunt and trap. Small birds with vibrant orange plumage at their throats flitted between trees. They tittered shrill rebukes when the pair passed under their treetop perches.

Rael stood at the precipice of a hill that sloped steeply down toward the grasslands, and took a long drag from his water skin. The day was pleasantly balmy, the sky clear and vastly blue as it stretched expansively overhead. Aside from a few small puffs of cottony clouds, the sky was empty, an immense void of azure space broken only by the fiercely radiant disk of the sun streaming light and warmth over all. The great Johake plains stretched out at his feet, wide and open, an enticing spread of brown and green grasses flowing and undulating under the wind's playful sway. The promise of the horizon was unbroken except for a few clusters of trees spread here and there, and stretched out to meet the blue of the sky with wide and welcoming arms. The Teeth towered in their harsh splendor at his back, a wall between worlds built of sterner stuff than anything mortal hands could conceive.

Their journey was arduous. Food and clean, fresh water were always a concern, and while predators were rare and not much of a concern, his encounter with the cave bear left him acutely aware of the wild things they shared the land with. More pressingly was the concern of the Haruke. It was rare for them to venture into the hilly regions at the feet of The Teeth. They instead preferred the flat and expansive lands of the plains further south in the Grasslands, especially near the fresh water sources where the grass was shorter and hunting more plentiful. Still, there was always the possibility that some small nomadic tribe would venture farther north than their usual migration, or some hunters would strike out into a new area to find game.

Despite these fears, Rael was enjoying himself. The weather was lovely, the land bountiful, and the views unfamiliar and beautiful.

Best of all, of course, was the company. Sharing the road with Silmaria was joy itself. As they journeyed on, the pair continued to explore and become comfortable in their new intimacy. It was a fine and precarious thing, balancing the serious and somber needs of the journey and their still quite dangerous situation with the moments of tenderness and smiles, playful conversations and sharing moments of newfound love.

Rael knew he was not always easy to cope with in times of stress and danger. The Knight became sharply focused on the gritty and unpleasant business of surviving in untamed lands, trying to guide their way forward, and being wary of any possible dangers and hazards in their way. He was sure there were times when he was not as kind as he should have been.

Silmaria weathered his moods well. She understood his need for seriousness and practicality. Moreover, she learned from him and adapted, and seemed to do her best to shape herself to his moods and moments of focus, something that he was sure was no easy task. For his part, Rael did his best to remember to be tender, and patient, and to remind her of his appreciation for her efforts.

And truly, her efforts were important. Silmaria worked hard not to hold Rael back or be a detriment, but even contributed many useful skills and talents that made their journey easier. Silmaria learned from him all the time, and knew how to set up and run camp as well as he. Though Rael was well versed in cooking in the wild and took his share of that duty, Silmaria had worked with Cook back at the Manor long enough to make their food more flavorful and enjoyable, even out in the wild with little resources at her disposal.

One of her biggest contributions were her senses. Silmaria's eyes and ears were much finer than his own, and it was she that went scurrying into trees to get the lay of the land, look for land marks, and spot any sign of other people in the area. Likewise, though they both hunted, Silmaria's sharp senses gave her a natural advantage in tracking prey.

Silmaria continued to work with the longbow, getting more proficient with it. Her aim and accuracy developed rapidly, though she continued to struggle with draw power. Still, the more she practiced, the more strength she was building, and it did not exhaust her the way it once did. Rael made his own makeshift bow, carving out a supple and strong branch and twining together a string. It didn't have the power or range of the longbow, but it gave them two bows to hunt with instead of one. Between the traps and snares they set and the both of them hunting regularly, they wouldn't be going hungry anytime soon.

More importantly than any of that, Silmaria gave him companionship, trust, understanding, and love. She was a constant source of reinforcement. There were times he wondered and doubted, as anyone would, if he were following the right path. Were there answers at the end of this journey? Would there be vengeance, and redemption at the end of this mad trek to the south? Silmaria was there, then, placing her small hand in his and looking up at him with absolute faith in her eyes.

In those moments, looking into those beautiful slitted emerald eyes, Rael knew his path was right and true.

The Nobleman grunted in surprise as something thunked into his skull from overhead. He rubbed the top of his head, bent to retrieve the offending object, and rolled the small, hard apple in his palm.

"Woops," Silmaria grinned down at him, and her soft laughter was joy itself, a melodious tune to write songs of. Rael smirked up at her and arched a brow.

"It slipped," she explained, laughing again from where she stretched out among the branches and scant leaves in the great old tree atop the hill. From her tone and the impish glint in her eyes, Rael felt sure that, whether it had truly slipped or not, Silmaria was not displeased with the result.

"Anything of note?" He asked her.

"Besides the apples?" Silmaria asked cheekily.

"Besides the apples," Rael confirmed, and caught several more that she passed down to him.

Silmaria sat astride the branch, her legs dangling, and bit into one of the apples. Her brow furrowed with thought. "I'm not sure. I see ... something, way off in the distance. Right on the edge of the horizon. It's so far off I can't tell what it is."

"Try," Rael returned, his eyes suddenly deathly serious. "Is it a settlement? A camp?"

"I can't tell. They're smudges and what looks like ... wait..." The Gnari squinted and peered off into the distance, and then her eyes widened a bit. "What the hell? That looks like smoke! I'm not sure ... but I could swear it is, rising up from those shapes on the horizon!"

Rael pressed his lips into a tight, thin line, then gave a curt nod. "Cooking fires. Probably a tribe of Haruke nomads."

"Are they insane?" Silmaria shook her head. "There's chest high grass as far as I can see! They could put the whole Grasslands up in smoke!"

"They'll have cleared a wide area of any grass where they're making camp right now," Rael explained. "The Haruke are very conscious about the dangers of uncontrolled fire."

"Well that's reassuring," Silmaria muttered darkly. She looked down at Rael with a look of concern. "Do you think they know we're here, Master?"

"No," Rael shook his head. "If they knew we were here we'd know. To let us go unchallenged, even for a moment, would be unthinkable for them."

"So what do we do?" Silmaria asked, struggling to keep the nervousness from her voice.

"Continue on our way," Rael said with a nod. "But carefully, and quietly. We have the mountains at our backs, so we won't stand out against a horizon when we take to high ground, so that's good. We keep our eyes and ears more open than ever."

Silmaria dropped down from the tree. Real reached up and caught her, gripping the slender woman in his arms and lowering her to the ground.

She smiled up at him lightly. "My eyes and ears, you mean."

"Yes," Rael nodded, not even attempting to deny it. He bent to kiss her, briefly but deeply, a hungry, loving kiss that stole her breath and left her up on her tip-toes searching for more.

The Nobleman brushed a thick strand of black curls from her eyes, and then gently rubbed her pointing feline ear with affectionate fingers. "We'll have to be very careful about fires from now on. No more during the night. And only very small and brief ones during the brightest part of day to cook any food. Preferably if we can find somewhere in the land to give us good cover."

"That's alright," Silmaria murmured with lips still happily tingling from their kiss. "It's warm enough for us to go without fire anyway if we get good and warm under the blankets. And your cough seems to be gone, for the most part."

"Thank the gods," Rael said grimly as they gathered up their apples and resumed their march east.

"You don't believe in the gods," Silmaria reminded him as she laced her fingers with his. "You believe in the sword, remember?"

"I never said I don't believe in the gods," Rael countered. "I just don't believe the gods, or the god, or whatever is out there, isn't what people believe them to be. Anyway, I'd sound the fool thanking and praying to a sword, wouldn't I?"

"You would," Silmaria laughed, "But it would be pretty entertaining, at least."

"Is that what I am, then? Your entertainment?" Rael said, teasing her.

"No, of course not. You're my wonderful Master and love. I would never imply less of you, would I?"

The smile she flashed him was of endearment and utterly unconvincing feigned innocence.

"Yes, yes, wonderful," he smirked. "And don't forget to add dashingly handsome in there, too."

"I dunno," Silmaria said, and then laughed as she stepped in front of him. She stared up at him, smiling her impish, wicked smile, and reached up to tug at the bright coppery red growth of his beard. "You might be handsome. If I could see a face under all these wild whiskers of yours."

"They're keeping my face warm at night," he complained.

"It's not cold anymore, and we're not in the mountains, so there's no more need for a mountain man beard," Silmaria countered.

Then she smirked challengingly up at him. "Besides, oh Master of mine, your beard may be keeping your face warm at night, but it's itching the hell out of me when your face is between my legs. I think I'm at risk of developing beard burn. I've heard that can be pretty debilitating to a girls sex life."

By the next morning, Rael's beard was gone.

For near three weeks they traveled through the hilly country at the feet of The Teeth on the northern border of the Johake Grasslands. Their days were peaceful, but tense; they never did see any further sign of Haruke near them, but that initial scare was enough to keep Rael vigilant and wary the rest of their journey. By extension, Silmaria's own mood was somber. She constantly felt eyes following her every movement. They traveled quickly, and carefully, sticking to the shadows and always making for the cover of trees or tall grasses when able. The weather was fine and the breeze held the promise of spring come early, the smell of new life and green things. It carried notes of a land that yielded to the warmth of a strengthening sun instead of fighting it, and the tantalizing prospect of easy hunting in the days to come.

Yet neither of them enjoyed it, really. Their eyes were turned ever southward, watching and worrying.

The land changed gradually and all at once, like a runner slowly building its pace before launching into a full out sprint. The Teeth fell away to the north, circling up to meet SkySpear, the mountain range that formed the east border of the Dale. The gentle rolling hills and spacious flatlands of The Grassland's yielded to the short, squat rocky crags and red veined valleys of The Reach.

The Reach was a hard land full or rock and stone. There was none of the lush, tall grasses and vegetation's of Johake's vast plains.

Oh, but there was life, certainly. Green things lurked, timid but hardy. Vines crept and snaked and spiraled out between the abundance of rocks all around The Reach, entwining their way up cliff faces, finding purchase in every crack and fissure, in the stones. The vines were undeterred where there were no cracks or fissures to hold to; centuries of patience and persistence yielded their own special crevices to make their home. The vines creeped and crawled, sprawling out in a vast network of greens and browns and knotted tendrils and stiff, broad little leaves. There were bushes, too, dense little hardy underbrushes in varying states of green and brown, dressed or undressed with small, thickly clustered leaves. Perhaps, in a few weeks or days or moments, when spring truly took hold, there would be eager little flowers blooming, a riot of colors on a backdrop of brown cliffs and red clay and smudges of struggling green.

For even in The Reach, there was vibrancy. In the red clay of the earth, bright and startling and thick as blood, and as beautiful. The dusty browns of the rocks and crags, muted and complimented by the dark greens of the dense scrawl of vines and bushes covering everything and creeping over the rocks, an unrelentingly patient tide slowly overwhelming the very stones.

There were trees, too, most of them dotting the deeper valleys between the rocky formations and plateaus, but also spread along the slopes and sides of the great rocks all throughout The Reach. They clung to whatever spot they found purchase, small bands of brothers and loner's alike. All standing testaments of stubborn, enduring strength. The trees were withered, knotted fellows with bare, twisting limbs stretching forth in all directions, searching. They gripped at their companions with bony reaching fingers in struggle, or perhaps embrace. Those separate and alone led a solitary, longing existence, and they reached most desperately of all.

What they yearned towards, only the trees knew. And trees, as everyone knows, are the very best keepers of secrets.

Rael led them several miles east into The Reach. It was further than strictly necessary, but he had no desire to chance an encounter with any Haruke skirting the edge of The Grasslands. Journeying through The Reach was different from traveling the Grasslands, and often strenuous; there was nothing remotely resembling a road in The Reach, for two reasons. Firstly, as the ancestral homeland of the SkyRacers, roads had been largely uneeded in The Reach for many centuries. The winged folk had little use for roads. And second, even after GroundBorn began to live in The Reach in greater numbers, the lay of the land with its frequency of rocky ranges and formations and deep, cleaving valleys made any practical road a near impossibility.

The lack of roads and being forced to navigate around and often across the ungentle terrain was not their only hardship; hunting was less abundant in The Reach. There was game to be found, but it was more difficult to come by than in Johake. Water, too, was hard to find. Rationing their water became a necessity, and they were constantly looking for a small stream or a shallow pool of water in the valleys or spilling in a gentle trickle from a natural spring between the great rocks.

It took Silmaria time to adapt to the new land, but adapt she did. The Reach was as different from Johake Grasslands as The Dale was different from both of them. It was strange to be traveling through these different places. Strange and hard, and wonderful. She had only imagined these lands, only envisioned what a truly mild climate could be like. How could she have ever thought she would spend all of her life in the North?

How could she have let all this pass her by? But for heartache and tragedy and treachery, she would never have known the dance of the grasses like the ebb and flow of the ocean waves undulating as high as her head, waiting to drown her. Nor the depth of crimson in the clay of The Reach's hills and valleys. Or the sharp, harsh beauty of its rock formations, all jagged stone lurching in pointy brown surges, hard and fearsome. The formations were ever, imperceptibly changing, like angry ponderous giants shifting at the speed of centuries.

Never would she have known these wonders if she hadn't left the North.

The journey was as hard and harrowing as it ever was, and Rael's pace was unforgiving. But somehow, Silmaria couldn't bring herself to care. She was with the man who held her heart in a grip dangerously strong and kind.

And, gloriously, she was out in the world, exploring lands ever shifting under her stride with the wind sweet on her tongue.

Free.

Rael came awake immediately; he was and always had been a light sleeper, and even minor disturbances would rouse him to alertness.

In this case, the not-so-minor disturbance came from Silmaria, sitting upright beside him. One small hand rested on his chest, and the other slipped under the waist of his pants, searching. She was lit by the silvery light of the full moon. Her eyes were wide, staring down at him. Her breathing was coming quick and shallow, her ample bosom heaving. The Gnari girl looked unsettled and there was a desperate air about her.

"Sil?" Rael asked softly, watching her.

Her slender fingers wrapped around his cock, and a shudder ran through her. "The Stirring, Master," Silmaria panted quietly. Her fingers ran along his dick, and already Rael's flesh stirred and thickened under her sensual, longing caress.

"It's bad ... gods, it hurts ... I ache so ... please, Master, I need you," she practically whimpered. Rael stared up at her, taking in her stricken face. It had been so long since she was last struck by Stirrings that he'd near forgotten about them. Now they were returned with a vengeance it seemed, and the intensity of the girl's need left her shaking and unsteady.

Rael reached up and cupped her face, his thumb brushing at her cheek as he stared into her wide, pleading eyes. "Tell me what you need."

Silmaria's hand was sliding along his cock now, pumping the thick, engorged flesh with her small little fist. Her fingers spread around the fat, throbbing girth of him. She stared into her Master's face, her slitted green eyes nearly swallowed by the black of her pupils, giving her eyes an almost trance-like fervor.

"Use me, Master," she said, her voice thick with lust. Her hands worked at his pants, and then she had his heavy cock out and exposed, and she had eyes only for the flesh she yearned for most just then. "Use me however you want, and use me hard, I beg you! Make it stop!"

Those words spoken, Silmaria slipped down and pressed the broad flat of her tongue firmly to Rael's cockflesh. She ran her tongue from the base of his cock upward in a long, firm lick, dragging as slowly as she could stand to go. His taste flooded her, spreading on her tongue, strong and musky and masculine and distinctly, unmistakably him. Silmaria had tasted more than a few cocks in her years, and none made her mouth water quite the way the flavor of her Master did. By the time she reached the swollen, bulbous plum of Rael's cockhead, saliva was dribbling from her full, lush lips and slipping down the impressive length of his meat.

A long, ragged moan dragged from her throat at the simple act of tasting him. She was trembling, quivering as she shifted to lay between his slightly spread legs. Her big, wide eyes stared up into his face, holding her Master's gaze as she opened her plump, plush lips and plunged his proudly erect cock into her mouth. She took him deep, her lips and jaw stretching wide to accommodate his thickness as her supple mouth filled with cock. Silmaria's tongue worked along the fleshy muscle of Rael's meat even as she drew more and more in.