Fate Cries Foul - Renier Larouche (fantasy novels to read txt) 📗

we are. My father used to say that some of you try to forget us. That your elders don't speak about us. There were fights, you see. You killed our lions, so some of us killed your hunters. We have peace with the nearby tribes now, but the faraway tribes seems to pretend that we don't exist."

"Your father..." Lapis began.

"He is with the winds now," Monia said. "He died a long time ago."

"With the winds?"

"Where you go when you die," she said, as if that was common knowledge.

"No," Lapis said. "You go to the dirt when you die."

She said nothing for a while and gave him a curious look. A little amused, a little annoyed. A little... something else that he couldn't place.

"Maybe you do, but we don't." she finally said.

There was no point in arguing. And there were other things on Lapis' mind anyway. "You are a long way from home," he said.

"No, blue eyes," she replied, again with the same confidence. "You are."

With this, Lapis finally took his eyes off the beast he had pursued for several days, and took a good look at his surroundings. Behind his back, the vast stretch of the plains spread until there was only grass and the odd tree sprinkled across the horizon. But ahead of him, it gave way to a whole new sight. A towering massive of rock that stretched all the way to heaven, lined with dense, lush forest and stretching so far up that it disappeared into nothingness. He had seen the mountains before. On dry days, they could be seen in the distance if you stood on the low hills or climbed a high tree in the plains. Vague shadows on the horizon. But up close, the vision was breathtaking. It looked almost as if it was leaning out over him.

He realized what must have happened. He had been too focused on the hunt and the prey that he didn't notice the scenery changing. This was not unusual. In fact, that was one of the things that lead him to such hunting success. He never took his eyes off the game, not for a moment. Not until it fell asleep, and was safely dead.

But lions wandered in circles, so he never ended up very far from home. A hunt could take several days, but to drag home the prey was never more than half a day's work. This lion had done what no lion before it had. It had walked a straight line, from Lapis' hunting grounds and out to the rim of the plains. To this woman. To lie down beside her. To be petted? To lower it's head... in respect? Maybe she was a god after all.

Monia stood up. The lion looked at her with a questioning gaze. So did Lapis.

"Come, blue eyes. You must be hungry. I'm sorry your hunt amounted to nothing; I can't help you there. But you will need food and rest if you want to make it back to your people. Come, be my guest."

Monia leaned over and whispered something to the lion, which stood up and trotted away out towards the plain. Lapis stared at it, dumbstruck, as it became a smaller and smaller shape in the distance. The pale woman, this Monia, had talked to a lion. She had commanded it to go away. She had given orders... to a lion. Monia gave him a brief nod to follow her, and walked away towards the mountains. The mass of the hills still worried Lapis, but now he had no choice. He would follow the beautiful woman with the amazing powers all the way to the sky, if that was her choice.

The walk ended much earlier than that though, at the lower edge of the dense forest that crept up the hillside. A short line of clay huts and tents of a crude weave that Lapis could not identify, just under the first row of trees, formed a small village. He followed the woman, and his eyes couldn't decide if they would marvel over the strangeness of the scenery or the allure of her strange, but mesmerizing, dust pale skin. A few people, older women and children mostly, were scattered in the open field in front of the huts. They gave him a curious look as he passed by, but soon returned to their own interests.

It made sense, Lapis realized. They had seen dark men like him before. He was the only one with virgin eyes here, the only one seeing alien sights. He was the true child among elders. And still, not a child. A child would not look at the arms, shoulders, back and hips of its guide like he did, and wonder how they would feel under his hands. He looked at her as a man, longing to run his tongue along the inside of her thighs, to graze his teeth on her neck and to thrust his manhood inside of her. His own thoughts caught him by surprise. What was he thinking? He was a hunter, and a hunter must always be able to set urges of flesh aside. He had to remind himself that he was still on a hunt. The prey was an unusual one, but a prey nonetheless. He hunted truths among confusion. He new nothing of that kind of hunt, but he had to try.

He had to try.

It was no use. His wits were gone. His discipline, the rhythm of the stalk, the grip of the spear, the stealth breath, all failed him, and his eyes kept drifting back to the beauty of Monia's back and the alluring movement under her waistcloth.

Her hut stood at the far end of the column, a low, clay red circular wall with a grayened hide roof. It was lower than a man, but build over a hole in the ground, so inside Lapis found that he could still stand up comfortably. Monia pulled a dense weave over the entrance, sealing the hut to the outside.

"We will not be bothered," she said. "I am the whisperer. They leave me alone."

Lapis didn't know what to say to that. There was hunger in the strange woman's eyes, a hunger that spoke directly to the animal in him. He could feel it stirring, moving in his loins. At the same time he wondered; what did she just say?

"And you want to ask; what is a whisperer? You also want to ask what I said to the lion? Am I right?"

He nodded. What else could he do?

"I can see why you find it strange. To you, a lion is food. To us a lion brings food. You hunt them. They hunt for us."

"But how? What is this? Magic?"

She laughed and stepped closer. "No such thing. They are part of the village. We take their young and raise them as our own."

"As people?"

"Oh no, as lions. But we let them know what is right and wrong. How did your mother raise you? By telling right from wrong. Reward when you did good and punish when you did bad. You can raise a beast the same way. Teach them words, even. I told the lion to hunt. She will bring back food to the village when she returns. We keep her babies safe while she hunts. She knows this, that's why she shares her meat with us."

The clouds of confusion slowly parted from Lapis' mind. It was no act of gods, no strange magic. Only trickery. He understood trickery. But another trickery was taking place, one that he had no defenses left against. The oldest trickery there is, of glances, smiles and soft promises. Monia stepped even closer. He could feel her breath on his face, her fingertips pressed softly against his chest, and he knew where this was headed. The hunter was gone, and the mere man was all that was left. A mere man defenseless against this kind of attack.

"Enough about lions," Monia said. "You are my guest. A man welcome in my home is a man welcome to all I can offer. Food, drink, healing, song and pleasure. I want to know if the stories are true, if those scouts were telling truths or tall tales about Lapis, the beautiful, blue eyed man of the night. I need a strong man, and our men are weak. They are sensible, but weak. I haven't had a hunter in my bed for a long time. Will you take me, blue eyes, my guest?"

Lapis said nothing. He was not a man of words, but he knew what actions spoke volumes. He firmly gripped Monia's wrists and pulled her hands down to her sides, and then behind her back. He pulled her body close to his, her breasts pushing against his torso and his erection grinding into her loins. The fire in her eyes and wide, inviting grin, hunger, joy and ecstasy all in one, told him all he needed to know. The hunt was over, truth was his, and he could give in to the burning need that had been pushed aside for days. Yes, the hunt was over. But who was the prey? Did it matter?

"I've never seen a woman like you," he whispered.

"I've never seen a man like you," she murmured back.

They spoke of nothing else, but merged with a kiss, with teeth clinging to lips, tongues sliding against each other. With arms wrapped tight around aching bodies, with cloth torn and string untied in haste, with teeth teasing shivers from earlobes and necks. With tongues licking dust off shoulders, arms and necks, with lips sucking sighs from nipples and salt from fingers.

Monia was strong in head and strong in body, and the softened men of her own tribe, builders, gatherers and thinkers, could no longer satisfy her. But here was a man who knew how to respond to fearless strength. It was as natural to him as breathing, and he matched her moves with his own, a dance between power and power. He wrestled her onto the floor, laid down on top of her, and she laughed up at him, kissed his lips and sucked his tongue into her mouth. His hard erection was pressed between their bodies, and as they broke the kiss and gasped for air, Monia thrust her crotch up against it, and Lapis responded with a groan.

He stood up on his knees and looked down on the wonder. The grass pale woman who had astounded him, spellbound him, was now spread, open for his taking, urging him on with hungry eyes. He lifted her ass from the dirt floor and eased the tip of his cock into her hole. Then a firm grip around her waist, and a deep thrust blew away the last remaining distance between them. Her eyes shut tight and she threw her head back in a silent scream at the first, forceful invasion. But as he began to withdraw and pump into her with a heavy, steady rhythm, she raised her body, wrapped her arms around his neck, and locked her burning gaze to his. The hunter and the whisperer were gone. This was animal to animal, hunger to hunger, a breeding frenzy long since robbed of conscious thought. Lapis pulled Monia's body to his once more, buried his face in her neck and impaled her as deep as he possibly could with a final spearing. He emptied his white, hot seed deep into her, and she screamed out as her own body shuddered in climax from the sensation.

After an eternity of breaths, one by one slowing their hearts to resting pace, they sunk down to the floor, shared a long look, and finally parted. Lapis' shaft was coated with the evidence of a line crossed, a hunter's caution thrown aside, and Monia wrapped a hand around its slippery surface.

"What more can I do for you, my guest?" she asked.

He replied with a smile that said as clear as words what he wanted.

When they finally emerged from the hut, soaked in sweat