Heart of Stone (9 page)

Tyra was still a little hoarse but
managed a whispered “you’ll help me then?”

“
I’d be honoured Tyra. I’ll
need a little time though to consider which techniques to train you
in. They will need to be simple so you can over learn them and use
them without thinking if you meet one of these things plus I have a
couple of weapons in mind that will improve your odds. Always
remember though the first rule of fighting.”

“
What’s that?”

“
If there is even the
remotest chance you can, run like bloody hell. The best battle is
won by a hundred yards.”

George was waiting for her outside.
“How’d the lesson go?”

“
Interesting.”

“
Wow, that’s a nasty cold
you’ve got there.”

Tyra coughed out a laugh then froze as
she saw who was across the street. Steven was leaning against a
lamppost, watching her intently.

“
Don’t pay no mind to him.
He’s just trying to intimidate you. If he get’s you on the
defensive you’re easier prey.”

Tyra sighed at the implications.
“Guess I’d better learn my lessons then and train hard.”

Simon was there to meet them when they
got home and food was already on the table. “Rest your voice Tyra,
Thex filled me in. It’s good to have a new ally we can be honest
with.”

George joined them for the meal. He
and Simon chatted amicably for a bit on various aspects of current
politics, the economy, the environment and the general state of the
world.

Tyra listened with interest while she
chewed her food. Something in the food seemed to ease her throat,
no doubt some herb that Simon had added to help her.

George gave Tyra a friendly pat on the
head. “I’ll say goodnight to you two then, catch you
tomorrow”.

“
Goodnight”. Tyra nodded in
George’s direction as he left. “He’s staying somewhere
nearby?”

“
He’s got a bachelor's pad
set up in what was the old loft above the stables out back. He
stays there when he’s up this neck of the woods. I’ll take you over
for a visit tomorrow. I’ve asked him to hang around for the next
few weeks given how edgy Steven seems. Now let’s clean up I want to
teach you a specific meditation technique and then there is another
matter that needs to be addressed”.

Tyra raised an eyebrow, wondering what
the night held. She felt a shiver of expectation. Later, when she
noticed there was no mattress in front of the hearth she felt a
moment’s disappointment. Instead there was a large
cushion.

Simon saw her looking at it “Its made
of memory foam. You’re not used to long periods of seated
meditation so I thought this would make it easier. I brought it
back with me today.”

Tyra beamed. “A present?” She went
over to test it out. It was indeed very comfortable, even sitting
cross legged which her body certainly wasn’t used to. “So, how do I
do this meditation stuff”.

“
To start with just close
your eyes. Feel your breath. Follow the sensation of it flowing
into and out of your lungs. Try and breathe in through the nose if
you can and out through your mouth. Practice that for a
moment”.

He let her do that for a couple of
minutes until her breathing seemed to smooth out. “Now keep one
level of your awareness going with the breathing while at the same
time you use your mind’s eye to look at the top of your head.
Visualize a white light there and pretend that there is a small
hole forming in the top of your skull. Now start to slowly draw
that white light down through your body from top to body, missing
nothing. If you feel any tension visualise the white light
dissolving it and let the tension go. Let me know when the light
has reached the ground.”

“
Yep, got
there”.

“
Okay feel the white light
going into the earth. Feel that you are making a connection with
the earth as if it was an extension of your body”.

Tyra seemed to sway almost
imperceptibly for a moment then made the connection and
stabilised.

“
Now go back up to the top
of your head to the hole where the white light is coming
in.”

“
Okay, I’m
there”

“
Extend your awareness out
through that hole to where the light is coming from, feel yourself
making a connection with it as if it was an extension of your own
soul’s light”.

“
Wow, yes, got
it”.

“
Okay, now direct the light
from above down the front of your body to the earth, filling the
earth with that light and then letting it travel back up your
spine, back out through the hole in your skull. Keep doing cycles
of that. I’m going to give you a small phrase to say in your mind
while you do this. On the in breath as you draw the white light
down mentally say ‘all’, pause while the earth fills with the white
light and think ‘am’ and finally on the out breath mentally sound
the word ‘I”. Now practise it for a few moments.”

Simon sat down and just enjoyed the
peace radiating off Tyra as she purified her essence and
reconnected with the all-spirit. She wouldn’t know it yet but she
was also doing her bit to heal the earth as well. He watched
patiently as tears began to flow down her cheeks. “It’s alright,
just go with it, it’s part of the process”.

After a few moments more he gently
tapped her on the shoulder. “Open your eyes, that’s enough for
today. It’s time you were assigned your path and given your way
name.”

Tyra looked at him quizzically. “Way
name?”

“
My way name is Aris. I
anglicized it to Harris to form the surname which your society
requires me to have but the original Aris actually means left. It
was given to me when I was chosen for the left-hand spiritual path.
Some mistake it as an evil path. Some of your kind even try to make
it so. At its most essential it’s the path of liberation through
non-identification with arbitrary values. Thex translates as right
in our language. He follows the right-hand path of a protector,
fighting for justice and cosmic order.”

“
I’m guessing I’m somewhere
in the middle”.

“
And you would be totally
right.” He placed a hand on her heart. “I hereby give you the way
name of Filia”.

“
I’m hoping that’s not a
horse, I was never into ponies as a girl”

Simon cackled with mirth. “Thankfully
not. It is the path of love and compassion. Your goal is to connect
with the limitless love and light of the all-spirit.”

Tyra wasn’t too sure on all this.
“That’s a rather a tall order Simon. I don’t have to change my name
or anything do I?”

Simon bent forward and kissed her
lightly on the brow. “No, you can use the name however you choose.
For now all I ask is that you do a daily practice of the meditation
I just gave you. Speaking of practice the other thing we need to do
is to punish you”.

Tyra jerked back startled. “You
what?”

Simon gave her a truly evil smile “As
I recall, you didn’t do your practise with the mirror this morning.
I told you there would be repercussions if you forgot.”

Simon gently put Tyra’s hands in the
cuffs on the wooden frame in his lounge.

While part of Tyra trusted him the
other part of her yelled at her that this was stark raving bonkers.
“This isn’t necessary Simon, I give my word I won’t forget
again.”

“
Oh but I think it most
definitely is necessary.” He spread her legs apart and cuffed those
to the frame as well. He stood back and admired her naked
form.

“
Um...I might catch
cold.”

He pulled a few things out of a nearby
chest of drawers. “You won’t feel cold in a moment. I assure you.”
He put down his armload of stuff, extracting from it a black padded
blindfold.

Tyra winced at the sight of it. “I’m
feeling vulnerable enough as it is, I don’t need a blindfold to
make it worse”.

Simon didn’t pause for a moment in his
preparations. He placed the mask over her eyes and stretched the
strap over the back of her head “comfy?”

“
Yes, but...?”

“
Relax, I know you trust me
Tyra or you would have been screaming and struggling as I tied you
to the frame just now. So believe me when I say I’m going to do
nothing to hurt you.” He put his right hand in a velvet glove and
stroked it over her body. “Now tell me how that feels. What do you
think it is?

“
It’s kind of warm and
soft, a bit like fur. Maybe velvet?”

“
And how does it make you
feel?”

“
Um it’s comforting,
reassuring...This is not so bad is it?

“
Not bad at all. Would you
like to try some other textures?”

“
Yes please, this is
actually fun”.

“
There’s just one thing
though Tyra, when you are tied to the frame there is no equality,
it’s please ‘Sir’. Is that clear?”

“
Ah, yes, Sir”. She
giggled.

He replaced the velvet glove with a
silk one, he reached around her to rub it over her
nipples.

“
Uh! It’s cold! Feels like
silk”.

“
Very good, you’re good at
this aren’t you slave?”

“
Slave? I don’t think
so...Sir!

Simon chuckled. “Can’t blame me for
trying”. He changed the silk for leather, this time on both hands.
He caressed her from toe to top. She shuddered beneath his hands
and moaned. Then he raised one of the gloves to her nose.
“This?”

“
Smells like
leather”.

“
You like the feel of it on
your skin?”

She shuddered again. “Yes. More of
that please. Um, please Sir”.

He grabbed her by the back of her head
and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Not so hard as to frighten
her but enough to show who was in control. His breathing ragged he
released her from the kiss and moved his hands down to her crotch,
stroking gently over the area. “Tell me what you want
Tyra!”

“
I want your fingers, I
want to feel your fingers inside me...Sir.”

“
You want my leathered
fingers inside you, you want me to make you come?”

“
Yes, please
Sir”

“
Only if you promise not to
come until I say.”

“
Um...okay.” That sounded
weird but she guessed it was all part of the game they were
playing. “Sorry, that’s a yes, Sir”.

“
You play the game well
Tyra”. He slid two gloved fingers into her dripping wet vagina,
placed his thumb over her clitoris and rubbed. He used his other
hand to massage her ass.

Tyra gasped. Her mind was liquefying.
On one level she was feeling totally slutty and embarrassed by it
but the pleasure was so intense it overrode all her reservations.
She let herself go into the sensations that were rising within her.
Warmth and pressure built where Simon’s hands worked her. All her
energy and focus was being pulled into her clitoris where he
rubbed.

“
Not yet Tyra, I’ll say
when.”

She cried in anguish and frustration.
She wanted to come, she wanted him in her fucking her hard but she
held on. A wave was building in her. Maybe she had become an ocean.
If she could just surf that wave. It grew in height until she was
nothing but the wave...looking for a shore.

“
Now Tyra, come
now!”

The tsunami in her gave way, washing
all before it. She slumped in her bonds.

Simon undid her cuffs and took her in
his arms, cradling her.

George and Simon were in the kitchen
preparing breakfast when they heard a sudden scream from Simon’s
bedroom. They briefly looked at each other questioningly, nothing
could get into this house could it? George drew his Sig Sauer
combat pistol from its holster under his jacket and went racing
after Simon to investigate.

The sight that greeted them in the
bedroom was that of a rather dishevelled Tyra, wrapped in a towel,
looking fearfully at a hairbrush on the floor.

George holstered his gun and bent to
pick up the brush, giving it a careful inspection, a bemused
expression on his face. “It’s not exactly a deadly weapon. What did
it actually do?”

“
It took out my hair,
that’s what. All my hair’s falling out.”

Simon wrapped her in his arms and
embraced her then looked at her hair. “I don’t think it’s all your
hair Tyra, just the grey ones”. He tenderly lifted her hair to
inspect underneath. “I think your new hair’s going to be metallic
bronze in colour.” He grimaced as he stood back a little to face
her. “I’m sorry Tyra, I should have realised this might happen and
warned you. If you have any teeth with fillings they might fall out
too...but you will regrow new ones,” he added, attempting to
reassure her. “Your eyes will change too, the irises will lose all
their spots and markings but it will be some time before we know
what their final colour will be.”