Traveller's Refuge (17 page)

She took the violin, slipping it beneath her chin. It had been a very, very long time, so she practiced drawing the bow and twiddled with her fingering. Then, torn between the joy of playing and fear that she had forgotten how, she closed her eyes and launched into her signature piece, her own composition,
Jade
’
s Joy
. When the last note died away, the room was crowded with her astonished stunned children.

“Now aren’t you glad we brought the violin?” Trav asked Bish with satisfaction.

While everyone was still clamoring for more, Arano quietly slipped away. He walked quickly to the path that led to Silence’s house, anxious to get out of sight before someone saw him. Once hidden by the woods, he ran all the way to her cottage. When the others finally noticed his absence, life in the valley had changed once more with a resounding jolt.

Chapter Thirteen

Great bolts of lightning flashed across the valley and danced off the tops of the sentinel stones in pledging circle five. High winds tore at the treetops and the resounding crash of thunder shattered the sleepy afternoon peace. Llyon and Tyger pounded along the path to circle five as the wild gale snatched at their
shardas
and braids.

They skidded to a halt outside the ancient stone circle in time to witness a most astounding sight. Numb with shock, they watched the overwhelming display the valley was producing to honor the pledging between Arano and Silence Brown. The stones were translucent, flashing in a rapidly changing pattern of colors as a whirlpool of light enveloped Arano and Silence, whipping Arano’s long dark hair around them in a silky shroud.

Abruptly, as though cut by an unseen hand, silence fell over the valley. The stones turned opaque and dull gray. The wind died. And on the giant altar stone in the center of the circle, Arano stood tenderly embracing his beloved, his
chinkas
cast down at his feet next to her
meerlim
and his
sharda
spread beneath their feet in lieu of a proper bonding blanket.

The pledging—begun in secret—was complete and publicly avowed by the valley. No one would be able to deny them or their right to the oath-binding ritual. Clutching his
slith
, a tiny ritual knife, in his right hand, he tilted his head so that his eyes met Llyon’s. “Fetch Dai and Papa,” he commanded. “We wish to claim
birth
-
rite
and they must be here as witnesses.”

“What have you done?” Llyon whispered. “She is barren.”

“Not so, Ly. She is untouched. We will claim
birth
-
rite
and have a child for all to see that she is
not
barren.”

“Arano! They will not allow it! She has fourteen years more than you do!”

“They cannot deny us, Llyon. She is my woman. The valley has validated our pledging and I will not repudiate it!”

Whatever Llyon was going to retort was lost in the rushing arrival of Merlyn, Dai and Bishop. As Llyon had foreseen, objections raged on all sides but in the end, after reminding Dai of their earlier discussion, Arano prevailed as they reluctantly witnessed the oath-binding and
birth
-
rite
claim of Arano and Silence.

In the aftermath, cold rain pounded the valley while women all over the valley were struck by
schalzina
. Merlyn, Tyger and Llyon hastened back to Lost Market while Bishop and Dai remained to settle the newly bonded couple at Silence’s house.

Hours later, Bish and Dai returned, wet and cold. After they were dried off and changed into warm
woolie
sheras
and
shardas
, Wrenna served them hot tea and stew while Trav kept them company, comfortable in his warm nest of blankets and pillows. “They are all right?” he asked.

Dai nodded, steadily chewing the savory meat stew. “I have never seen any bonding like it, not even Dancer and Eppie caused such a storm. They claimed
birth
-
rite
.”

“What is
birth
-
rite
?” Bish asked curiously.

“It’s a very old rite. It’s a claim for a baby to be conceived during the oath-binding. Normally, consummation and the oath-binding are done in private but
birth
-
rite
requires the complete consummation during the witnessed oath-binding.” He shivered. “I have never seen a
birth
-
rite
claimed and I have over seventy years.”

Trav sipped his tea thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I understand exactly what the fuss was this afternoon. What happened?”

“My daughter, Silence, was a widow. She has thirty-five years. Arano has twenty-one years. One must be untouched—what your people call a virgin—to do an oath-binding. I have heard rumors of another way to complete the oath-binding for widows and such, but no one knows what that might be. And of course, those from out-valley are different. If they are already joined, the valley will accept their oath-binding.”

“And Arano is claiming the right to an oath-binding with Silence? Neat trick! How did that work?” Bish questioned intently.

“Silence told us tonight that her oath-binding with that evil one was rejected. He could not perform with her. He was whipping her.” His eyes glittered with rage. “The night he died, he tried to kill her. He chopped her hair off with a kitchen knife. The valley took him in the last bonding storm below the judgment stone. I would like it that he was alive so that I could kill him.”

They ate in silence, until Trav spoke. “So aside from the virginity issue, which apparently was a non-issue after all, you were mostly upset because of the age difference?” he clarified. “Isn’t that a little backwards? Wrenna is twenty-two to my thirty-three. There isn’t much difference.”

Dai shrugged tiredly. “It is of no importance now. Arano is a bonded man just as he foresaw. The valley has spoken.”

* * * * *

The next day was very quiet in the village. Most bonded couples were still occupied with
schalzina
or its aftermath. The others were busy cleaning up after the storm. Wrenna and Trav lounged together on the hearthrug in the living room, with Trav’s arms wrapped around her. Wrenna had reservations about Trav getting down on the floor but he coaxed her, pointing out that they could put extra pillows and blankets down for cushioning and she gave in. The hot rocks and logs gave off enough heat to keep them warm. Snuggled together in blankets, they dozed, enjoying the quiet after the storm.

“I am so amazed that my mother can play that instrument you brought, Trav.”

He laughed quietly. “Dancer was a prodigy, a genius with the violin. But Jade was even more so. She played the violin, guitar, piano and clarinet. I seem to remember she also spoke six languages and I’m pretty sure there was some other stuff she did. I was only eight when she played with Dance. Until she reminded us, I didn’t remember her playing with him. It was a great honor for him to play with her. I think it was a huge charity concert for World Hunger.”

“What’s World Hunger?” she asked in puzzlement. “And what’s a charity concert?”

“A charity concert is a concert, a performance, where the performers donate all of the money people pay to see the performance. Thousands of people came to hear them play. In this case, they donated the proceeds to World Hunger. There were terrible famines across many poor countries at the time. Millions of people died from starvation. Performers organized large concerts to raise money to find ways to feed the people.”

“But that’s terrible!” she exclaimed in horror.

“Yes,” he said quietly, thankful that she would never know the full horror. “I’m glad I convinced Bish to bring the instruments. He thought I was crazy.” He smiled. “Now once things settle down, maybe Dance and Jade can practice together. The kids really enjoyed the music last night before all the commotion.”

“What did you do when Dancer was playing?”

He laughed. “Well, Dance gave me a stained glass kit for my twelfth birthday and I got hooked on that. Whenever I could squeeze in some time, I worked on my projects.”

“What’s stained glass?”

“Hmm. Well, imagine if all of those
chinkas
the boys and men wear in their hair were flat pieces of colored glass. Then you cut them in shapes and make a picture, with metal strips holding the pieces in place. And then, if you hang it, say in front of a window, the light will shine through the pieces. You know how the light shines through the
chinkas
? Well, imagine a whole picture like that.”

“That would be beautiful!” she whispered. “Could you make me one sometime?”

“I don’t have the glass and supplies,” he said regretfully. “Or I would in a minute!”

“The
chinkas
glass can be melted,” she said hesitantly. “Sometimes, Nathan melts it and uses it to make the
singing stones
.”

“
Singing stones
? What are those?” He was constantly amazed at the ways the valley adapted to their needs.

She laughed. “Oh, the
singing stones
are something Nathan invented. If someone sings for him, he can make the stone repeat it. He said it’s like something he calls a record. He said that in your world there are a lot of
singing stones
.”

“Did he now?” Trav said thoughtfully. A glimmer of an idea was twinkling in the back of his mind but he wanted to think about it, so he left it to simmer and changed the direction of the conversation. “What did your mother say about our bonding? I saw you talking to her.”

She lazily stretched her length against him like a cat, rubbing him from his chin to his feet and, unbidden, Mr. Peter sprang up ready for action. “She said that I chose well. She said that you are very masculine and dominant and would take very good care of me.” Smiling softly up at him, she said, “I am glad you will be my bond mate, Trav. When I think of how close you were to dying, it makes me all shaky inside. I will be so happy when you are well enough for the oath-binding. I want to sleep with you all night and hold you inside me.” He groaned. She looked at him with concern. “Are you hurting, Trav? Shall I get Llyon?”

“No, sweetheart. I don’t think Llyon’s going to be much help. All I can say is that you can’t possibly want the oath-binding more than I do.” She shifted and felt his cock, stiff beneath his
sharda
rub against her belly. Rustling around, she opened the
sharda
and took him in her hands. “Ahhh, Wrenna. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Burrowing under the covers, she took him in her mouth. Leaning over him, she gently, slowly kissed the very tip and then proceeded to the lick the entire length as though it was an especially delicious lollipop.

“Wrenna, darling. I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of petting right now,” he protested weakly. “Besides, we’re in the living room! Anyone could come in.”

“Nooo?” she asked, peeking from under the blanket with bold mischief in her eyes, before drawing her tongue slowly back to the very end. “You are made so beautifully here,” she said breathlessly. “And it wouldn’t matter if someone did come in. We’re pledged.”

“Wrenna—where did you learn to do that?” he demanded between groans as she teased the sensitive area just below the dark plum-shaped head.

“When we girls turn sixteen, Mama teaches us all about what she calls the ‘good stuff’.” She laughed when she saw his shocked look. “Well, what did you think? We practiced on
cucazhas
.” With one finger, she gently spread the drop of fluid that welled up before taking him again with her hot, wet mouth. That tried his self-control past all endurance. Throbbing wildly, he suddenly spilled onto her eager tongue. Lovingly she swabbed him clean. Pulling her against him, he rolled with her until she was snug against him spoon fashion.

“Your papa must be a very happy man.” Nudging her legs open, he found the slippery opening of her pussy, teasing her for a moment, with busy fingers. She rocked frantically against him and when she unraveled almost immediately against his damp fingers he decided that the oath-binding wasn’t going to be nearly soon enough. “I’m looking forward to being a real happy man too, if I live that long!” he murmured softly as he waited for her shudders to die away. He couldn’t wait until they could spend hours playing with each other and making love. When she was quiet at last, he pulled her closer. “Go to sleep, baby.”

“Trav, what kind of life did you have out there? What was it like? What was your family like?”

His heart stopped beating for a moment. Then as honestly as he could, he talked about his life, about the people he had killed, about the murders of his family, about the ugly things he had done in the name of democracy for his country. He laid his life bare for her, trusting her with his heart. When he quit speaking at last, she kissed him lingeringly.

“Traveller,” she said tenderly, “I love you with all my heart. You are a good, loving, unselfish man. Whatever you did out there is past. Let it go. You need travel no more.” Then held secure in his arms, she slept.

* * * * *

Once the weather cleared, Traveller didn’t see Wrenna more than a few snatched moments after dinner each evening. By then, very little discussion ensued as they spent most of their time trying to find new ways to make each other come. In the sane light of day, he had time to wonder why no one seemed to care that they were making out naked, hot and heavy in his room with the door closed but by the time she showed up in the evening, they were so hungry for each other that discretion was the last thing on their minds.

Every day as his recovery progressed his loneliness and frustration grew. Boredom and too much time to worry about his place in this strange valley placed him on a collision course with good sense. It seemed that all of his companions disappeared at once. Arano, who had been a frequent visitor, was in seclusion with Silence. Arturo, Tyger and Bishop had abruptly departed with Dai with no warning to spend some time at Dai’s Retreat. Jade was feeling the draining effects of early pregnancy with twins. Wolfe had gone to Rebaccah’s Promise to begin training with Henry.

And Llyon was staunching the overflow of too many responsibilities with too few hands. The most recent responsibility added to his list was training Hawke and Robyn to cook. Food preparation for twenty—more or less—was still a huge undertaking.