Rehny rode in the middle of the column of those who'd been sent to bring him to Binoria on account of treason. Those riding with him showed signs of fatigue, hands gently resting on reigns, shoulders relaxed and necks bent. They'd ridden for an entire night and during the whole time nobody said a word. Rehny found himself enjoying the company of this lot. Silence was a rare delicacy of late, especially within a crowd.
Yet he could feel it, a clear line of magenta trailing from the head of the column where Satheth rode to where he was. The one sided love bond that had formed between her and him unnerved him. These powers of Nyawe were uncharted territory and he was not of a mind to explore them. A simple life, that was what he'd wanted. Away from the politics of Kingdoms and the wars birthed of said politics. Away from humanity in general. He'd almost had it, peace. The thing bards speak of with much longing.
What bards speak of with much longing is love. Nyawe spoke in his mind. Sometimes she could do that, grip a strand of his thought and give voice to it as if telling him that she knew all that passed through his mind. Though sometimes she was clearly unaware of thoughts that passed through his mind, as long as he didn't put much emotion behind a thought.
Rehny observed his hands on the reins of his horse. The creature was practically leading itself, boxed in on all sides by other steeds, he had no need to stir its direction. So he bowed his head as the others were doing and closed his eyes. He inhaled once, sharply then exhaled slowly while focusing on his heartbeat, the blood rushing through his veins, the feeling of life that stirred emotions, up bubbled passion and he peered at it from within until magenta clouds formed all around him.
And the Goddess Nyawe sat engulfed in a magenta cloud before him, her nakedness partly covered by the mists of her domain. He stood before her naked, once he was uncomfortable with this, now he found himself used to it. Once her voice had rendered his mind incapable of functioning due to the complexity of power lacing each word, now he could look straight at her shifting face with a feeling of... meh?
Rehny wanted out! Out of all of this God nonsense and wars and deaths. A battlefield is a pit of horror and exulting and as the champion of Nyawe these aspects of war held a deeper meaning for him.
"You look at me as if I am the reason you're being dragged back into your past." Nyawe spoke, voice a lilting melody.
"I want a way out of this." Rehny said. He went over his words, now that he knew how important wording was with Gods, he always went over his words. "I need your help with a way out of this."
"The woman—" Nyawe started
"Satheth."
"Yes, Satheth, your bond with her. Use it."
Rehny saw it then, the purple rope tied to his foot with a magenta light pulsing one way along it. He made to move for it when a sharp ringing tore through his skull, the magenta light burst apart, so did the vision of Nyawe and her domain of colorful lights. He found himself on the ground, quickly pieced together that he'd fallen off his horse...how?
He raised his head to find twelve blades trained on him. Six wielders having decended from their horses to press the tips of their blades at him while the other six stayed on their horses. Those crowding him parted to reveal Satheth, basked in the midday sun, her blue eyes had a Savage gleam to them.
She descended her horse and came to stand before him. "Dahli gave us a job, Rehny, to bring you in. The Goddess you are bound to is one of love so the squad selected is forged of lovers save me. Save one tiny hot headed woman who happens to be the leader of this group. Do you know why I was selected?"
It suddenly made sense to him then. Why she'd visited him in the night and shared his bed with him. Why she'd been generous and... and.. Loving?
Plans within plans, the work of Meena. Nyawe hissed in his mind.
Rehny looked at the woman before him, her posture, her voice and gestures, everything spoke of her affection for him but there, beneath it all was a strong sense of duty. She knew! Satheth had known that she would be the one to fall in love with Rehny, but it wasn't a weapon in his hand but one in her own.
Satheth walked closer to Rehny as he picked himself up to tower above her. Those pointing blades neither lowered them nor wavered in their resolve to make sure he understood his predicament.
"I can tell, when you talk to your Goddess. When you try to touch on love, we all know, when you try to touch on love regarding me, well, I've been trained these past few months for this exact reason." She took a step closer to him, head barely reaching his shoulders. "Try anything again and it'll be your head we cut off." Satheth said.
Rehny abruptly reached out with a curled fist and punched a sword straight out of a man's grasp, the weapon broke in two as it twirled in the air to land some distance away from the contingent of soldiers. "You'll need sharper blades for that." Rehny said.
They stared at him. A span of moments passed, one, two, nobody moved save the wind tagging at the grassland they were in, pulling the blades of grass one way then another. The tension was at a breaking point and Rehny was already preparing himself to launch in one direction, fists blaring, strength and power his answer and way out of his current situation.
But Satheth raised herself on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his lips. Soft, his lips and hers were like soft puzzle pieces setting and resetting with movement. He was lost in the intimate gesture, but there was...
He felt it then, the rope between them was burning unusually bright. His strength ebbed, he felt like he was made of lead, it became hard to lift his arms, the emotion Satheth felt was solid and it blanketed him, twirling and wrapping him in weight that dragged him down... Down... Down.
The last thing he saw before he collapsed was the coy smile on Satheth's face as she pulled away from the kiss. .
XXXXXX
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