The Centaur (52 page)

Sophia was where he had left her. The milk pitcher was sitting beside her.

“I brought you a gown.” He knelt beside her and she allowed him to pull off the sweater and tee shirt. When he had her dressed in one of Lily’s white, ruffled bed gowns, she was a bit more comfortable. He worked on making her a soft bed of sweet new straw covered with woolen blankets, and then helped her onto it, propping her in the corner with a wooden cup full of water to sip on. He soaked a cloth in the cool water and washed her face and hands. She was feverish and her lips were dry.

“I brought you some bread and mutton, but perhaps you should just stick with the bread. The mutton might make you queasy.” He broke off a piece of the bread and gave it to her. She was worse than before and barely able to feed herself.

“Sophia, try to eat and drink more water. You’ll dehydrate,” he urged her.

“Spiders,” she muttered and then looked around the dim surroundings.

Mark found a broom and swept away all the spider webs he could find, poking into every corner, looking for any other bugs or rodents that might be lurking in the shadows. He lit an oil lantern and hung it on a hook near her ‘bed’.

“Now look, Sophia, if any of the locals come poking around, don’t talk to them,” he told her. “You have to trust me now. Don’t talk to them, and for God’s sake, don’t talk about demons and spells.”

“Mark, what is wrong with you?” She asked him. “You’ve changed.”

“Everything has changed Sophia,” he said gently as he knelt beside her again and kissed her gently on the cheek. “You have to trust me. We can’t let them know who you are, and we can’t let them know about the baby.”

“Why? Why, Mark?! Why not?” She gripped his arm. “What have you done? Who are these people?”

“Look…” He stood up. “I’m going back to the house. I’m going to make something for your pain, and I’ll come back and stay with you. I promise. Now eat your bread and drink the water. It’s good.”

Sophia bit into the bread and stared at him over the crust with large dark eyes.

“I’ll be back… really,” he told her, and then had to tear himself away.

The Knight of Death practically ran back to the big house. He banged through the back door and startled Molly in the kitchen before slamming through the cellar door at the bottom of the stairs, Mary screamed and threw the bottle of wine she had been carrying at him. He caught the wine, and then the maid as she fainted into his
arms. The lantern she was using fell to the floor, broke and burst into flames that ran across the floor toward the kegs of beer. He dropped the maid and the wine and dove for the spout on the open keg. The beer foamed from the spout and smothered the fire, but soaked the floor and Mary along the way. She pushed herself up and started to scream again before she recognized him.

“Master John!” She shouted instead. “
Lordy, lordy, whattaver happened?”

He picked up the maid and then he was besieged with more questions and babbling voices as the rest of the household bustled down the stairs.

“Quiet! Please!” He held up one hand. “It was only an accident. I frightened Miss Mary and she dropped her lantern. The worst is over. There’s no need to bother. Just bring a mop for the beer. I want to get into the laboratory and do some work.”

“Uh, sirrah,
thot’s th’ question I come t’ ask ye.” Richard held up the honey and the sugar jar. Robert stood behind him on the stairs with a crockery jug full of vinegar and a burlap sack filled with garlic, onions, dill weed and all the other herbs he had asked for.

“What question?” Mark turned away from them and walked toward the laboratory door. He stopped, confused and turned around. “Give me your lamp, Lily.”

She brought the lamp and handed it over wordlessly. Her facial expression told him she was very worried about him.

He held up the lamp and checked the wall. There was no door. No lab.

It hadn’t been built yet!

“Ahhh, yes, well,” he said and handed the lamp back to Lily. “There seems to be no structural damage here.” He patted the wall with one hand and smiled at the curious faces watching him. “We won’t have to worry about a cave-in.”

“Thot’s oll well and gud, sair, and I’m roight glad t’ ’ear it, but whair is this lab’ratry whair ye wanted these things?” Robert asked him and raised both busy eyebrows.

((((((((((((()))))))))))))

Inanna scanned the horizon carefully before folding her wings and plummeting toward the desert floor in what appeared to be a suicide dive. At the last moment, she spread her wings turned head up, claws down before disappearing neatly into a leaf-shaped crack in the earth. She came to rest on a smooth mound of water worn rock which showed thousands of year’s erosion in vari-colored layers. She was magnificent in her glory, sleek and black with deep green eyes and snow white underbelly. The water mist coated her scales and ran off now in iridescent sheets.

Abaddon stirred from his sleep and then scuttled away backward from her, pressing himself against the smooth rock wall. He had never been this close to a
living dragon. This one was very similar to Inanna, black with white undercarriage. Eyes like emeralds.

She snorted once and a small burst of green flame erupted from her nose. The flame wafted upwards toward the blue sky overhead and disappeared in a wisp of white smoke.

The dark angel glanced toward the shimmering waterfall in search of the fair one, but she was not there. Certainly she had been but a dream. Had he not been dreaming when the dragon had come? Had he not been dreaming of Inanna? Even in his dream he was dreaming, and for all he knew, he might still be dreaming.

“To dream… to dream. I would dream again for dreaming is my only escape,” he said the words aloud. If the dragon chose to eat him now, he would welcome the opportunity to give her a good case of indigestion.

The dragon lowered her head and perused him from one eye under a spiked brow. Her lines were elegant. Her form exquisite death. To find such beauty in horror was an almost laughable situation. The dark angel could only muster a dry chuckle. The eye blinked and the second eyelid slid aside revealing the emerald depths.

“What are you looking at, my lovely pet? I hope you are not fond of feet, for you will find me lacking.” He held his chin up as high as possible. His heart was pounding in his ears, but he was determined to die with what dignity he had left.

The dragon withdrew her head and began to preen herself, running her fore claws over her wings, licking her back with a long sleek tongue. She dipped her head in the crystal pool several times and soaked Abaddon in the process. She seemed quite unconcerned with him, and he thought she might have just come from another dinner. It was obvious that she knew he could not leave. His stomach rumbled at the thought of food, even his thoughts of being served for dinner made his stomach growl. If he had thought to bring his feet with him, he would have eaten them himself. He was starving, slowly, but surely. He’d not eaten in days, and he had been hungry before the battle. How many days had passed since then, he had no idea. If she waited much longer, he would be a scrawny meal indeed.

The pain had left him and, but for his feet, he was well. His voice, a bit hoarse from weeping, was loud and clear none-the-less.

“Hello!” He shouted to the beast as she settled her wings on her back and appeared ready to take a nap. “I’m talking to you, foul beast!” He shouted again, but she paid no heed to him.

He got up on his hands and knees and crawled toward her. How dare she dump him here and forget him? How dare she ignore him?

He crawled across the damp stone and up the slippery slope to where she lay. She was enormous! Abaddon worked his way down her side and over her right front leg to where her head lay resting on the stone.

He poked her jaw with his claw and shouted at her again, unsure of where her ear might be located. She moved slightly and snored loudly.

“Damn you, creature of perdition!” He shouted and beat both fists against her closed eyelid.

The scales felt like enameled tiles under his hands and soon he had caused a great deal of pain for himself. When he finally gave up in frustration, he began to make his way back to his place by the pool where he could put his aching fists in the soothing water. Before he could heft himself over her foreleg, she shifted her position and pulled him close to her throat, trapping him behind her curled claw. He beat frantically against her, but he was going nowhere. He relaxed, drew a deep breath and leaned his weight against her throat. He could feel her heart beating and in spite of her appearance, she was quite warm. The heat felt good to his back and he felt himself drifting into sleep, lulled by her snores and the steady beat of her heart.

Finished.

Quotations taken from the King James Version Bible, the New Testament and the Old Testament, the Revelation of St. John, Jude, Mark, Luke, Matthew. The Testimony of the Mad Arab and the Necronomicon. The Emerald Tablets of Thoth, the Atlantean, the Centuries of Michel de Nostradamus.

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