Ch: 49 Caught in a Trap

The deceptively swift current and the little ship’s crew brought them to the point where the River Road climbed a set of low bluffs. The rivers joined just a few miles downstream from that point. 

Esperanza nudged up on a nice piece of causeway, before long the ship was secure and a gangplank let the little family out on shore.

 Falco swam off upstream, no doubt looking for Annie and the rest. Swimming alongside a slow moving trade boat left him ample energy to spend on his own pursuits.

 

Shai bounced on the balls of her feet and gave a good stretch. 

“Ahhh! Strike up a tune boy! I would hae a dance… dinnae summon yer house now, Tawny might be bathing!

“What do you want to dance to, lover?” He asked, warming up and stretching himself.

 

“Ye know, what I do like.” She said with a smile.

 

Becky held out a hand and Gary made a bodhran and tipper appear for her. “Here we go.” She began thumping out a steady beat constant as a clock.

 

Gary started the chords to ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ and Shai took it all the way home. Singing, accompanying on bells and violin, while spinning wildly, Shai was lost in a dance. She spun so exuberantly, everyone lost track of their surroundings in the moment.

 

Shai spun to a stop, winded and sweaty, but glorious and more lovely in the winter sunset than any man had a right to hope for. Gary clapped, hooted, stomped and whistled himself dizzy, while the rest were staring off beside the water.

 

On a patch of level ground, overlooking the river, a stone roundhouse had its windows lit, trailing vines and moss covered the exterior and a small kitchen garden peeked out from behind. 

A low, shed roofed stable with its own small paddock brought the horses and their donkey companion trotting over, to investigate the hay crib.

The front door of well lacquered oak planks strapped with black iron was formidable, but swung open silently at a touch. 

A central, round hearth led to a chimney that went straight up through the conical slate roof. There was a simple, rustic kitchen against the curving wall near the door. 

A few small bedrooms had been partitioned off with simple wooden walls and an open loft held beds above them. 

Gray stone and varnished oak dominated the room, but tiny embellishments lightened the mood everywhere the eye fell. 

Whether a bouquet of violets painted on a cupboard door, or a rambling rose bush drawn around the front door frame in bright colors. 

Throughout the room, simple brush strokes in primary colors suggested spring flowers in bloom, birds in flight and moonlit, starry nights of wonder.

“I kin only do this wi thee along, an tis nae as grand as thine… but fer a while, dwell in my home boy. Thou mightst find some comfort here.” There was pride and welcome in her smile as she held the door for him. “An now ye are my first, it shall be nice to hae thee inside me.” She whispered, swatting him on the rump as he approached

 

She took his hand and pulled her boy inside. He stood lost in wonder, as that thrill rolled through his body in the real world, vibrating his essence ever so pleasantly. 

“Tickles.” 

It kept tickling as his brothers, sisters, friends and children came tumbling in.

The shore party had arrived at some point during the summoning, Khan and Luna immediately staked claim on a very nice bedroom and went out to tend the hooved members of the party.

Shai grabbed Gary by the hand and led her boy on a tour while the others settled in, seemingly far less surprised than he.

Everywhere he looked, houseplants and tiny splashes of color vied for attention, without crowding or being excessive. 

“It’s amazing Shai, it feels like home already. Let’s hit the bath!” Gary said with genuine excitement.

 

Shai smiled wanly and led him to a simple door on a partition wall.

Bathing and hygiene arrangements were simple and rustic as well, the kind of bathroom one would imagine in a nineteenth century eccentric’s home, to Gary’s eye anyway.

A huge barrel tub with a brass rim stood under a shower-head that emerged from the ceiling. A pair of knobs controlled the water from a spout, while a third controlled the shower. 

There was a wash basin and the local toilet, a tall pedestal stool with a step built into the ceramic at the front for resting one’s heels. Gary was not a fan.

The taps and shower gave out frigid or boiling water in turns, making bathtime a risky proposition. 

Gary began filling the tub and tapping his toes to the heartbeat of the water pumping out.

“Shai, in your mind the water is coming from a hand pump, gushing out in fits and starts. That's why it switches from cold to hot... Imagine it coming from a spring like mine…” 

Gary moved behind her, rubbing her shoulders, so powerful yet so smooth and feminine. Her muscles rippled with controlled strength and smooth fluid grace rather than being bunched and corded. 

In her ear he was still whispering; “...and the water smoothly blends flowing out… Bathtime!”

Becky, Amy and Wilford all careened up the short ladder and into the massive barrel with a splash. 

“Don’t worry love, your water is just like mine. It’s the stuff of life itself.” His clothes vanished and he joined his kids with a barking laugh of joy.

 

Shai and Gary brought the tub nearly to its capacity, things only worked out because the kids were all tiny.

“I guess that means we gotta wash up and scoot, we’ll let Otho go last and soak for a while.” Gary moaned. “The trials of life on the road.”

“An me home be nae up tae master Gary’s high standards, he may sleep in a roadside bush.” She gave him a poke with an amused and gentle finger. “Shai will be warm and snug wi her children in any case.”

 

When the Wards came out, all clean and warm, Luna and Khan slipped in after. That pair had started dinner, trusting Gary and Shai to pick up the thread. 

 

Gary took over, stirring chunks of wallowbear haunch and rough chopped groundworm with good white flour and a little olive oil in a black iron kettle over the fire. 

Shai had a shaggy lump of biscuit dough dancing to her tune in the kneading trough. Over at the table, Becky cored apples with a stiletto while Amy stuffed them with an oat and honey crumble.

The apple cores, trimmings and a number of small apples wound up chopped and tossed with oats and a bit of molasses over the equine party members’ early evening hay.

 

When the boat crew and Otho made it out of the bath, dinner was just hitting the table and the little ones were already getting sleepy.

 

“My plan for tomorrow isn’t complex, Flora and I take the cart down to the marsh or whatever and I snoop around.” Gary said over the stew and biscuits; while Otho kept looking at the baked apples waiting nearby.

“Maybe Otho, Khan and Luna supervise, but Esperanza and the crew stay with Shai and the kids in this lovely home. Where it’s warm.”

That got less than fifty percent approval. Shai, the kids, Esperanza and her crew all rejected his suggestion out of hand.

He expected Shai and Becky to object, but Esperanza was a surprise. “Ranza, guys, what’s your objection?” He asked patiently.

 

“We are equipped to explore these waters, and have sailed them many times. My darling says there was no threat there, when we passed through mere days ago. 

Even when that pinch monster was there, it was no threat to us with the mighty Falco.” Her confident and sure smile said it all.

 

“Fair points. Shai, Becky, why should I bring my whole family into the unknown?”

 

“Nae, I do say Becky an the wee ones should stay here.” Shai answered, straight out.

 

Becky huffed. “That was my angle, I go with you, Shai stays with the little ones.”

 

While those two turned on each other, Gary turned to the two smallest dissenters. “Amy, what’s your beef?”

 

“I don’ wanna go, it’s cold and wet. I wanna stay where it’s warm. Wilford wants to go so I gotta, I’m his big sister.” Amy said, just hanging it all out there as usual.

 

“Wilford? Why do you wanna go stare at the water in the cold?” Gary asked.

 

“Turtle.” He said with the sound of a temple bell ringing the faithful to prayer.

 

“Turtle? You want to see turtles? Maybe in springtime, they might all be sleeping now. Turtles are nice, I like them too.” He hugged the tiny boy close. 

The tiny boy struggled and wriggled his way free, took a steady stance and looked Gary right in the eye.

 

“Turtle. I like Turtle.” Once more that feeling of portent and import shook the room subtly.

 

“Ok Turtles it is. On that note, bedtime.” Gary declared. Scooping up his son and daughter, as with a grin, he followed his woman. 

 

Shai led them up to the loft, where beds were scattered just far enough apart and just close enough together.

“Not much privacy but lots of love, Shai. I dig it.” Gary announced. 

 

“I did think ye might. An the bath hae a lock on it wahe none can jimmy save we.” She said with a smile. 

Then she leaned close and whispered; “I shall meet thee there anon boy. Dinnae wear… much.”

 

As they were tucking Wilford in bed he held up a tiny hand. “Falco.” He said, which naturally cleared up everything.

 

“He wants to know where Falco is gonna sleep.” Amy mumbled from Shai’s arms. “I told him Falco has to sleep in the river, but he says that’s not fair, and things should be fair.”

 

“Things should be fair, and we would like to have Falco with us and the others, but he has to stay in the river.” Gary explained, feeling mildly foolish, so that was a huge improvement over his usual. 

Wilford seemed to accept that answer, for now.

 

Gary kissed Amy goodnight while Shai tucked her in and Shai kissed Wilford while Gary tucked him in, then the process had to be reversed. Each partner trading off tucking and kissing in the opposite order. 

“An we hae more bairns this will be complex.” Shai giggled. 

 

Becky flopped down on her bed in ridiculous rainbow pjs she had sewn herself and smiled. “You have one more, get back to work.” They went round again, with the tucking and kissing, then the pair headed downstairs for the evening.

#

 

“So the whole gang is heading down river to an uncertain fate in the morning. That’s not ominous at all.” Gary said softly, to the conclave of adults.

 

“Ye did hae a bad time there, but I hae traveled this road some few times wi nae trouble, Falco an Esperanza do say tis nae danger, an we shall be wi ye.” Shai soothed, rubbing his shoulders, now that he was the fretful one.

“Mmm… that’s nice. I thought I would play some flute around the perimeter, then go to the island and see what happens. I don’t remember getting anything besides mister Pinchy though.” Shai put an elbow in the small of his back and went to town. “GnnnngGg!” Gary remarked, while squirming and twitching spasmodically. 

 

“This one recalls mistress Sonja’s technique while watching you at work, sweet Shai. She has asked passage on Esperanza’s return to Wheatford. This one wonders if he should need another treatment…” Her evil smile made Gary’s skin crawl. 

 

“You really enjoyed watching her tie me in knots? I’ve never had such a closeup view of my own butthole before… seen it, don’t need to re-visit.” Gary shuddered at the memory. 

Iron hard, liver spotted hands, the mauling, the humiliation. He really did feel so much better after though.

 

“Aye thou didst get a good look, bu t’was before the ointment! Tis all shiny an new, an bright pink!” She giggled and wrenched her elbow deeper into his vitals, going for a kill strike.

 

There was a moist, soft, popping sound, as Gary deflated into Shai’s lap. 

Luna watched the action with interest. “What is this art? It seems to have settled your fractious monkey right down. Teach me Shai, Khan can be difficult to manage at times.”

 

Shai mulled that over while stroking his hair gently. “Tis a matter I did learn recently. Ye should come tae the classes at the temple wi Tawny an meself.” She levered her drowsy man up onto his feet and began dragging him off. 

“We shall be possessed of well mannered men ‘ere long.” She said happily, before ducking into the bath and latching the door with a distinct finality.

#

 

Upstairs, Shai turned out the lights with an effort of will and lay back with her relaxed and groggy man.

“Stars!” He murmured happily.

 

Directly over the bed, what had appeared as the underside of the slate roof was rather, thick, well fitted slabs of glass above the beds. 

Beams and supports interfered with the view, but Shai had much less control of her expression of his gift.

 

“Ssmarvelous love.” He murmured, curling up so close she could feel his heartbeat against hers, in perfect time.

#

 

Poor Ivy had to stay up late as he dictated the weekly reports. They worked until well after seventh bell, yet still the filing needed doing. 

Liam could handle that himself. The numerical and symbolic document tracking system the cult of Order used had been devised and refined over the centuries to make the job suitable for non readers. 

Liam was beginning to regret ignoring Otho’s constant suggestions that he learn the art of literacy. Certainly now it was too late. The irony of a convert to the new cult of Knowledge being illiterate was not lost on the young man.

 

“Go on to dinner Ivy, I will handle this. Good night, and thank you.” His hands were quick and sure, stacking and filing documents quickly. One copy of each into the records box and the packet for the temple of Order, he bundled the documents into an oilskin bag and sealed it with his official chop. 

Liam and Ivy had helped Otho assemble and deliver these weekly reports together ever since they were old enough to help out around the orphanage.

 

As always, it seemed Ivy could read his mind.

“It’s never too late, I can teach you, so can Shai or Becky. Dannyl joined the lessons yesterday. I feel like something is moving behind the curtain, but without Gary we can’t see what it is.”

 

“Even with that loon we can’t see anything. I’m just glad he was blind enough to fall into Shai’s clutches. Poor fool, she is going to work him like a plowhorse.” Liam said with a superior smile. 

 

“One evening, when he was working her forge, he came dragging back nearly spent. Wrung out like an old rag.” Liam chuckled, while he walked and talked, carrying the packet to the temple. Ivy tagged along with Otho just like old times. 

“I may have laughed at his plight and made a few clever and witty remarks at his expense. My memory fails me.” Liam said, taking the proverbial high road.

“He had the nerve to ask that I bury him on the hill over the orphanage that he might… ‘watch me hang Aisha’s underthings from the afterlife.’ of all things!” Liam laughed cruelly at his friend’s fate. 

“Who is doing laundry now, my friend? He has been stitching and sewing for the last several afternoons. Kids clothes, women’s clothes, the lot!” 

 

He passed the packet off to the desk man with a nod of long familiarity. “Evening Hamlin. Otho’s out of town.” 

Back out on the streets of the temple district Liam stretched and flexed. “I’m off for a run, don’t wait up, I’ll bathe in Gary’s pool and go to bed. Night Ivy!” They shared a quick hug. Which for some reason, Ivy held just a little longer than he expected. 

“Good luck. Stay strong, don’t back down, remember; Orphans Show No Mercy!” She said fiercely, with what he thought was a tear in her eye. 

“It’s just a run… Ok Ivy! I will give it my everything.” He started warming up, a look on his face that said, ‘I’m gonna leave it all out there tonight’.

 

Panic stricken, Ivy backpedaled and blustered. 

“Noooo. You gotta take it easy, you don’t want to pull something and make Tawny come out in the dark woods to find you.” She said, her cheeks flushed by the cold wintery breeze, it had to be the wind.  

“All helpless and vulnerable, in need. Dependent on her skill and resourcefulness to make it through a cold winter night…” Her voice was soft and warm, almost happy at the dire pronouncements she was making.

 

“Ivy… I will take it easy, maybe you should too. Go see Tawny at Gary’s house and go to bed. I think you might be ill.” He aimed his sister at the door to Gary’s and then he trotted off into the dark, towards the market gate and into the night.

 

Liam was always true to his word, he took it easy, just a smooth circuit of the town at a brisk trot and back to the gate shortly after the last tolling of eighth bell. 

The feel of sweat evaporating off his skin in the cold night air was electric. The mental and emotional clarity his new god brought into Liam’s soul was a revelation.  

Knowledge had pushed War aside, making a home in Liam’s soul and using his natural compatibility to muscle War off into a quiet corner. For the first time since he was five, Liam was alone in his head. 

Knowledge had made a nest and curled up quietly. War had been shunted away until needed. There was room; room to think and breathe without bumping into impulses and ideas that felt alien.

 

He could feel Knowledge and War still, but the new guest had laid down some house rules. His presence was welcome and soothing.

Liam sang one of Gary’s strange songs as he strolled along, looking forward to a long bath and going to sleep with no one riding him like a prize pony.

It’s the time, of the season

When love runs high…

 

Liam was stepping along lightly and thumping his chest with his hands the way Gary did when he was nervous or excited. ‘When did I start doing that?’ He wondered, but not enough to stop his game. 

‘It really is fun. I should have taken up music with Otho… and learned to read…’

 

Tell it to me slowly…

Tell you what,

 

I really want to know,

It's the time of the season for loving…

 

As he came close, Liam heard music from Gary’s front room. His heart skipped a few beats when he realized Tawny was playing the pianoforte and singing the same song. 

He couldn’t be sure, but it almost felt like they were in time and on the same verse. His heart lurched back into motion and he felt his stomach drop through the floor. 

 

Carefully, he slipped through the garden gate, and went into the public side of the baths. It was completely empty at this hour on a winter night of course.

He went through the arbor of gently nodding duskmoons, taking a delicate sniff along the way, just a snootful to ease his pounding heart.

Liam had clothes on the private side of the bath, so he stripped and eased in, leaving his sweaty things in an unobtrusive cubby.

 

Tawny’s music came filtering through, carried on som eldritch sorcery of that madman’s devising. Somehow if there was music in Gary’s house, all you had to do was listen. No matter where you were in the building or grounds the music would find you.

He floated, lost in her timeless sounds, he only noticed she had stopped playing when she slipped into the bath.

Liam was in his favorite spot, under the waterfall, where the steam gathered thickly and the air was warm. It was also Tawny’s favorite. 

 

“Good evening Tawny.” 

She gave a short yelp of alarm when he greeted her from the mist. His voice thick and clotted, no doubt by the steam. 

 

“Ivy said you would be coming by. Did you have a good run?” Tawny’s voice was thick too, almost husky. The steam was rather thick tonight.

“Yes, it was stimulating. I feel… good. Really good for the first time in a long time.” He said softly.

Tawny was floating so close, her golden hair fanning out across the surface of the roiling green water like a field of ripening grain waving under the summer sun, green beneath the gold. 

Her eyes were closed as she drifted in utter repose. Her face rising from that golden expanse as though sculpted in precious metal and jeweled by a master’s hand. 

Each droplet on her face, every shimmering mote of steam that glinted on her furthest eyelash, was a shining beacon to him.

Just visible in the steam and wavelets, her breasts rose, distant islands of golden paradise. Too far for Liam to swim to, but so near he could almost see the promised land between those glorious shores.

 

Liam just watched her float for a while, before he realized she was singing, ever so softly, less than a whisper, the same song.

 

What’s your name?

Who’s your daddy?

 

In the quiet of the pool, she was singing in time to his own heartbeat.

 

Frantic, flustered and flushed; Liam made hasty excuses and rose to exit the pool. That was where he ran into trouble.

Tawny floated there, nude and glorious in her unselfconscious beauty, relaxed by their long intimacy. Liam tried to exit the pool, but she just kept watching him with a relaxed smile. Bobbing nearby enough that if he left the waters, she would see.

 

He closed his eyes and began his meditation practice, honed over his entire life for dangerous times like these. 

First the square breath, to balance mind and body, then the triangular breath, to control the body and emotions. 

This was not so different from wrestling down War’s obnoxious and violent urges. He opened his eyes again, once more the master of his body and went to gather his clothes. 

Gary’s magic always kept his change of clothes warm and fresh scented, just another example of the hospitality of the boy’s soul. 

“And he thought this was not an inn…” He muttered, reflecting on  his mad brother. 

 

His clothes were not there. On instinct he reached for the ever present robes that Gary always had conjured here… nothing, just empty wooden pegs carved in fanciful shapes.

With a sigh Liam went to gather his sweaty, and now, no doubt, cold clothes, bracing for a damp and uncomfortable walk home. They were also gone.

“Tawny, my clothes are missing, do you know where they went?” He asked, feeling even more naked now. “I am suddenly feeling like I should go to bed.” 

 

“That is a good idea. You should stay here tonight, we can find your clothes in the morning… together.

She stood and rose from the water, slow and graceful as a dream. Her hair cascaded down her skin, clinging to form a raiment of molten light that concealed nothing… but revealed his own nakedness to all, as though brazen trumpets and the shining sun were laying him bare to the world’s examination.

 

Liam stood there naked, dripping and unable to find even a towel in the entire place. Tawny met his gaze calmly, confidently, as she always had, Liam started to fall apart inside. 

He scrabbled in every nook, searching for some kind of garment. At least the fruitless search distracted him from the vision standing so near he could reach out and touch that shining velvet skin.

When he turned around, Tawny was toweling her hair into a mane of wild and flyaway ringlets. 

With careful slow strokes she dried herself with that fluffy towel of golden brown cotton. With a careless flick she tossed it aside, where it disappeared in a flurry of colorful sparkles. 

That was new. Rather than ask about the sparkles, he opened his mouth to complain that he could have used that towel…

Tawny shrugged into a filmy gown of golden silk. It was so thin, so smooth and shiny, every outline of her body shone, as though highlighted in afternoon sunshine. 

Every detail. 

 

The tiny bumps around her nipples stood out in stark relief, while those chocolate peaks pushed proudly forward.

He looked down, before his gaze could travel to her wide, open neckline. Tiny stitches in silver thread made an intricate repeating vine pattern; they ran the length of her robe, drawing his eye back to that opening.

The inner curve of her breast slipped in and out of the shadows of her garment, catching his breath at each, almost appearance. Steam and lantern light danced, making those tiny silver vines wink and sparkle until he was forced to look down again.

That was no help. Tawny’s golden feet shifted constantly on the lawn, in graceful, tiny dance moves. He realized she was still humming that song softly. 

Her feet entranced him, deftly bouncing from heel to toe. His gaze traveled up those shining legs of purest gold… her robe was startlingly brief, scandalously so. 

With every step, a glimpse of something forbidden was promised, and then snatched away. Each errant breeze threatened to display the treasure he had craved since before he knew anything at all.

 

They had bathed together so many times, from their first days, yet... always War stood in the way. Liam cursed his hated god, still smugly…

He took a stumble when the realization hit him and nearly collapsed when Tawny moved to catch his fall and touched his bare skin with her hand.

#

 

In a bedroom not far off, paper lanterns lit a pillowy mass of bedding. Flower petals and herbs scented the air with a gentle warmth that oozed from every corner of a seduction trap built to order. 

Refreshments sat untouched, as did a filmy negligee of sheer, pale blue with golden roses and delicate golden lace at the bust and hems.

#

 

At her touch, Liam gasped as if plunged into icy waters, followed by scalding steam. He let forth a howl of primal rage that rattled windows and started dogs and poultry to fussing all over town.

In the same moment, Tawny’s throat rang a golden note of shocking purity and Joy; harmonizing and lifting Liam’s cry into a joyous shout.

 

Liam pulled her to him, his strength and ferocity catching her off guard. “Liam!” She cried in alarm.

He pressed her close, his naked body parted from hers by only that delicate silk. “Do you want me to stop?” He asked in a ravenous whisper. She could hear the strident horns of war in the depths of his voice, so far away now. 

The fear and horror in that sound was restrained, controlled… Mastered by the compact warrior that held her so close, after so terribly long.

She felt her goddess relax, in the way she had not ever before in the presence of a male cultist of War. Even the women, even Luna, put her goddess on guard. 

 

Suddenly Liam, sweet, strong, sorrowful Liam was laughing with unbridled joy… no, Joy!

So was she, welling up from within as though a mighty geyser of emotion were bursting forth with all of nature’s fury. 

Her laughter pealed forth with wild abandon in the same powerful song, harmonizing in the scales of Joy together.

 

Schemes and plans had been laid, plots plotted and arrangements made just so…

Instead, two young lovers held each other in the garden, wrapped in woolen blankets taken from the nearest cupboard. Liam and Tawny didn’t care that suddenly, all the comforts and robes had reappeared. 

They lay together on the lawn, beneath boughs of springtime cherry blossoms in mid winter. They forgot everything but the cold winter air and eachother’s warm breath.