Arrival
“What are those?” Lelieth asked as they stood at the stern, facing the approaching land.
“I don’t know,” Katrin replied.
In the distance, a series of strange pillars rose up into the sky, impossibly tall and slender. Nothing about them seemed normal, or natural, but they were there nonetheless. They rose high into the sky, seemingly forever of an unknown material.
The sky brightened, as if the closer they came to the Isles the more sun came forth.
“We’re docking soon,” Gabriel announced. “Everyone below deck for briefing.”
The gathering was quiet, somber as Gabriel stood before the group.
“As the expedition captain, I’ll be the first to descend, followed by Katrin, who has met these people before and will the familiar face for them. Stay in a group at all times, and I repeat, under no situation ever, should you be alone with an axian. If an axian man decides to hold you down, it matters not who you are, you will not be able to break free, understand?”
“Yes sir,” everyone replied.
“Lelieth you will be responsible in finding an area suitable for teaching. An armed guard will be with you at all times. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” Lelieth confirmed, meeting his green gaze.
Lelieth looked over at Cassandra, who sat there silently, throat tense and eyes welling with tears.
Atop the ship,Lelieth watched as the land came closer and closer. She saw people standing on the shore, children among them, standing firmly. Even the smallest ones stood still, watching intensely. It came across as eerie to Lelieth, seeing these children so stoic. Why were they not clinging to their mothers as any normal children would?
A loud horn resounded from the land, drawing the crowd.
The ship came to a stop, anchor deployed a ways from the shoreline. Katrin, Gabriel and three soldiers descended into the water on a small vessel, gliding toward the shore with a pair of oars dipping in and out of the clear blue water of the ocean.
People openly approached Katrin, embracing her and kissing her forehead while the boat returned to the ship.
Lelieth boarded it, her pack of belongings across her back. As the soldier rowed to shore, Lelieth’s heart raced furiously, terror in her mind. The closer they came to shore, the larger the axian people appeared.
A soldier assisted Lelieth from the boat and as much as she tried not to, Lelieth quaked in fear. Their eyes, the eyes terrified her. She couldn’t meet them, eyes of such crystal blue it was impossible. Nobody had eyes like that. It couldn’t be real.
They stood silent as they stared at Lelieth, their presence so intimidating that Lelieth broke into tears, quaking as they watched her, focused and intense.
Sound shifted around her, as if echoing in a massive, grand hall.
A hand touched her arm and she yelped, drawing back to see a face. She didn’t know this face and she cried out, stumbling back across the dirt before running away.
She ran into something, or someone who gripped her shoulders and Lelieth screamed. She looked up into eyes of crystal blue and collapsed into darkness.
#
Someone stroked her hair sweetly, gently.
Lelieth stirred.
“It’s ok,” Katrin voiced so quietly it was barely audible. “Rise easily, you’re safe.”
Lelieth opened her eyes to see Katrin’s lavender eyes cast down upon her, wiping her brow with a warm moist cloth. She was inside a tent of some kind, the candle beside her safely kept in a lantern to avoid igniting the fabric.
“What happened? I barely remember arriving,” Lelieth admitted.
“I’m afraid we were neglectful to warn some of you appropriately. There’s an immense collection of aether here in the Isles. It has the rare affect to anyone new that sometimes causes immense dread and panic. You weren’t the only one to panic, if that helps you feel better.”
“It does a bit,” Lelieth admitted and sat up on the bedding. She groaned and looked up and around. The tent was meager, but had a few beds in them along with a chest full of herbs and ointments. “Is this your area?”
“That’s correct. It’s near the center of the village. It’s still daytime, so feel free to explore with your guard, he’s waiting outside for you.”
A small boy poked his head inside the tent, clutching something in his hands.
“Oh, you can come here,” Katrin gestured toward the axian boy, waving him forward.
The boy cautiously approached them, holding out his hand toward Lelieth and opened his palm, revealing a bundle of what appeared to be cotton. She took it from his hand and explored the texture. It was rough, like a kitchen scrub, yet soft and pliable. Whatever it was, it was clearly a gift.
“Thank you,” Lelieth commented and smiled at the boy. His ice blue eyes glistened in the dim light of the lantern and he smiled before leaving.
“See? Making friends already,” Katrin stated to Lelieth as she stood up.
“Or feeling pity on me.”
#
The light was intense as Lelieth left the medical tent and she grimaced as her eyes adjusted.
She glanced over at a large man leaned back against a crate, eating a piece of venison.
“Ready?” he asks, swallowing the meat he’d chewed.
“I suppose so,” Lelieth replied. She looked around, taking in the setup of the village. Many tents and huts, some were made of fabric and animal hide. Some looked like they were made of dried mud, or clay of some kind. The buildings were inconsistent, as if the buildings were created from personal desires, rather than conformity.
All axian held hair of immense blond, so bright it looked like a field of the greatest wheat. Their flesh was deeply tanned, whether from the sun, or natural pigment, Lelieth couldn’t tell. She watched the women, they were tall, but not frighteningly so, with muscular shoulders and arms depicting people of constant labor and work. The men however, were monstrous in size.
Lelieth’s heart raced as one axian man walked by carrying a crate of supplies she knew belonged to the ship. He carried it up on his shoulders alone, his head forward as it rested on his upper back and he stood significantly taller than her bodyguard. She looked over to see four men carrying a crate of similar size from the ship.
“Gods,” Lelieth breathed at the realization of the axian strength.
“Lelieth?” Katrin called out from the tent.
“Yes?” she replied.
“It really would be better if I guided you around. I may not speak axian but I do remember some things about the village.”
The bodyguard followed them silently, clearly bored and indifferent while Lelieth and Katrin wandered, trying not to get in the way of the ever busy axian people.
Lelieth couldn’t ignore the constant glances toward them, the eyes locked on her in particular.
She saw a male and female axian emerge from a tent together and their fingers locked with each other’s as they rested their heads together. She was bare chested, along with him and he caressed her cheek.
“What’s that?” Lelieth asked, pointing to the couple.
“Breeding time,” Katrin replied. “It’s a mutual bonding. They meet once, and that’s it.”
“Fascinating.”
They walked past a claylike home, with a stitched roof of leaves and logs. Lelieth paused before it, smelling something worth devouring inside.
Katrin paused with her, inhaled and smiled. “Ah, axian delicacies. I’m sure they’ll be sharing them soon enough.”
Lelieth peeked a glance inside and saw a woman stirring a cauldron before Katrin pulled her away.
“There’s someone I want you to meet,” Katrin announced and pulled Lelieth away from the village, walking with her toward the woods to the north.
“We’re getting far from the others,” Lelieth worried, despite their large bodyguard following silently.
“I know. Trust me, this one is special.”
They came upon another house, alone and secluded from the rest of the village. In the center of a clearing of trees expertly cut down so the house could sit comfortably in the center.
“Do you mind if we are alone when we enter?” Katrin asked the guard.
“I don’t think so,” the guard replied. “If you go inside, you leave the door open.”
Katrin sighed. “Very well.”
She opened the door and placed a hand on Lelieth’s back, escorting her in before herself.
Lelieth walked in and paused. Before her sat a man facing away from her, only his bare back seen as he sat hunched over, moving his arms carefully, minutely. On display with the most broad, heavily muscled back she’d ever seen. Every inch of tanned flesh was a powerfully honed and carefully developed muscle down to a narrow waistline and a full head of bright blond hair.
“Hyde,” Katrin whispered.
The man stopped and slowly turned around to look at Katrin. His eyes moved over toward Lelieth and his eyes widened. He slowly stood and Lelieth’s heart raced furiously in her chest.
The man stood at least three feet taller than Lelieth, barely able to stand fully even in his own home. His massive body shadowed Lelieth as he approached and he knelt down before her, his face at hers as he reached out and gripped her shoulders. His blue eyes locked on her gaze and she was frozen, her vision blurred and she could feel the heat from his massive body.
“This is Hyde,” Katrin said softly.
“Hyde,” Lelieth repeated in a quiet breath.
Hyde’s eyes widened and his lips curled up in a soft smile, slightly hidden by his full blond beard.
“You’ve actually already met Hyde. He’s the one you collapsed against when you arrived. He carried you to my tent. I knew he’d want to know you were alright.”
“I’m Lelieth. Thank you for helping me.”
Hyde’s eyes examined her face and his grip loosened on her shoulders. He released her and stood up, returning to where he sat before and faced away from them.
“Let’s go,” Katrin spoke.
#
The entire venture back Lelieth was in a mental haze. She tripped twice on her own feet.
“Katrin,” Lelieth whispered.
“You don’t have to whisper right now,” Katrin joked, smiling at Lelieth as she sat on a barrel outside the medical tent.
“So far I’ve not heard a single word from the axian, not even in everyday conversation among each other. Why not?”
“The axian people don’t speak often. They have no need to. Why? I couldn’t tell you. But I think I’ve heard maybe three words during my last venture here to the Isles.”
“Then how in Ikana’s name do they communicate?”
“Again, a mystery. Maybe this time we’re here we can find out how and why they do that. After all, you’re here as the teacher. Perhaps it will be you to discover the axian voice.”
Lelieth and her guard walked away, toward a tent set aside specifically for Lelieth to sleep in at night. As the sun set and the people began to leave for their homes for sleep, Lelieth remained outside, her eyes scanning the villagers. But she wasn’t certain why she searched. When everyone was gone, she felt a sadness and receded to her bedding, tying the flap of her tent and disrobing in the heat of the night. She blew out her candle and wrapped herself in the furs of the bed, closed her eyes and slept.
#
Her husband’s strong hand caressed her cheek to wake her. Lelieth smiled and grumbled, feeling lips on her cheek, then a firm grip on her chin to force her face up, laying a firm kiss while she woke. She sighed in pleasure, such a kiss of love and affection she whispered, “I love you.”
She opened her eyes to nothing.
“Hello?” Lelieth called, sitting up and placing a hand down, gasping when she met cool water. In fact, everything around was nothing but water, black and endless. Everything was black, no light, yet she could see clearly around her.
The water around her rose, drenching her bottom and she gasped, standing up in the ankle deep water.
The water began to rise, reaching her calves, then her knees and Lelieth began to panic. There was nobody, and nothing. Everything around her was nothing, only rising black water and darkness.
“Help me!” Help!” Lelieth screamed, paddling her arms as the water rise and she kept her head above water.
Suddenly she couldn’t swim higher. She kicked and swam upward, yet moved no further as the water rose, covering her head and she glanced down, noticing there was nothing pulling her down, nothing around her ankles.
Lelieth swam up and up, so long and so far she stopped trying, realizing that holding her breath was no trouble at all, and the pressure of not breathing had no effect on her. So she swam through the nothing around her, searching every direction she could, turning the water while the darkness surrounded her.
Suddenly, she looked over and saw an axian man. He laid naked in the water, upturned and subdued.
She’d only seen him once, but Lelieth knew it was Hyde. She swam through the nothing, suddenly able to move again, arriving closer to the sleeping Hyde. He didn’t move or react to her arrival and she stared at his face. His eyes fluttered, air bubbles left his mouth as he breathed.
Lelieth’s eyes moved down, examining his toes, his feet, his thighs, his manhood, his stomach, his chest, his shoulder, his arms, and his rugged, handsome face.
Why was he here?
I’m dreaming. That’s what’s happening, I’m dreaming. Dreaming of Hyde.
She swam closer, now so close to his face that she could see the pores of his flesh. She stared at his lips, full and pink amongst his bright blond beard.
Daring the opportunity, Lelieth kissed his sleep form, feeling heat and placed a hand on the back of his neck.
Hyde responded, opening his eyes and embraced Lelieth, wrapping his arms around her back.
She gasped as he entered her and smiled at the feeling, closing her eyes to experience the pleasure. They made love, floating in the water and then Lelieth opened her eyes, wrapped up in the furs of her bed, now sprawled out and halfway on the floor as the early morning light came in through the small holes of her tent’s entrance.
“Oh no,” Lelieth muttered.