Immortal Betrayed
the sequel to breath of the immortal
Chapter 1
"I love my people and I can't abandon them to go with you," she replied solemnly, not wanting to look him in the eyes.
"You have to! I need you!" he protested, trying not to allow his voice to echo in the clear night air.
"They won't survive the winter without someone who can guide them," she continued to argue.
"Your sister has proven herself to them already. We are second to her in the eyes of the clan," he pushed, lifting her chin up to face his waiting eyes.
"You still love her don't you?" she demanded the truth from his eyes.
"Only as much as she'd ever allow me to love," he replied with a slight chuckle, remembering only too well the circumstances that led him to this moment. "Don't you?" he countered, raising an eyebrow at her.
"She's my sister! Of course I love her!" she protested, pulling herself back from him.
"Then come with me!" he exclaimed, grabbing for her hands. "We can't live in her shadow forever!"
"You are making me choose between the love of my sister and a life with you!" she accused, pulling her hands away.
"I'm not asking you to choose anything. I'm telling you that you can't remain the little sister for the rest of your life. I'm just giving you an opportunity to walk away and start over," he tried to convince her one last time.
"How do I know you won't bring me into the wilderness and leave me there to die? I've had that happen to me already, you know!" she eyed him suspiciously.
"Yes, but who was the one who saved you from near death?" he reminded her proudly.
"Only after my sister saved you!" she countered.
"Please," he begged, gathering her up in his arms. "I can't make it out there alone," he spoke softly into her ear, making her shiver. "I need you or I won't survive."
"You don't need me," she whispered more into the air than into his ear. "You need her and you can't have her!"
She quickly broke away from his embrace, took one last look at his shocked face, and took off toward the village. Tears streamed down her cheeks as flashbacks of another time quite like this entered her mind. He chased after her, not wanting her to think she was right and caught up to her before she could reach her hut (her escape). Grabbing her arm, he spun her around to face his demanding eyes, but could say nothing soothing as she cried into his chest.
"You can't stay here forever," he stated into her hair.
"I have to!"
A rumbling from the trees stopped their quarrel and made them both look towards to mountains, which could be seen rising up from the canopy beyond them. Another rumble made the whole ground shake under their feet and he grabbed a hold of her protectively. The grass and the soil beneath them began to split apart and in the distance they saw trees disappearing one by one. Before either could react, the ground opened up and swallowed her up inside. As she clung to the side of the hole, he lost his balance and was knocked onto his back.
"Patia!" he screamed as he flipped himself over and crawled to the hole on his stomach, the ground still shaking and rumbling beneath him. Grabbing her arms at the wrists, he hoisted her up and into his arms, where he again held her protectively.
Another rumble continued to split the ground before them and Patia cried out in fear. "It's heading for the village! We have to go back and warn them!"
After giving up his attempt to convince her to leave with him, he allowed himself to be led away from what could have been a terrible accident. He had never seen the mountains shake that way before and as they ran for the village he wondered what has caused it to happen and why. But unbeknownst to both of them, a greater threat lurked in the shadows of the trees.
* * * * *
"Why do you continue to haunt my dreams?!" Tiana shouted into the cool autumn air that blew calmly through her hut.
"Why do you not accept everything that you've become?" was the reply.
"Stop answering my questions with questions! And stay out of my dreams!" she demanded.
"Remember, moncherrie, I don't control your mind. You do! So if I am haunting your dreams it is because you want me there!" the voice argued.
"I hate you!" she exclaimed, exacerbated and pouting like a child.
"Come now, moncherrie," the voice was immediately tender as a figure appeared behind her on the bed. "You know you don't mean that."
He pushed her hair away and gently kissed her neck, making her shake at the cold touch of his lips. He wrapped one arm around her, running his fingers lightly across her stomach, before pulling her chin up with the other hand to meet his waiting lips. Their kiss lasted only a few seconds, but he purposefully left his lips close to hers, teasing her into wanting more. Chuckling, he pulled back and whispered in her ear.
"I have to go," he breathed.
"You always do this," she sighed.
"Do what?" he smiled.
"Leave after you..." she trailed off.
"After I what?" he urged, nibbling on her ear.
"Nothing. Nevermind."
He smiled again and he disappeared just as quickly and effortlessly as he had appeared. A rumbling interrupted her obscene thoughts and she ran outside to see what was happening. The mountains in the horizon were smoking, where for years only clouds could be seen. The ground below her feet shook suddenly and she had to brace herself against her hut, while her people frantically gathered their belongings. She looked around at the chaos and shuttered to think what could happen to her people if the mountains opened up. She had heard stories from her father as a little girl, but never experienced it in her lifetime.
"Where are we going to go?" an elderly gypsy asked.
"We are trapped on all sides! The mountains to the north, the French to the west and south, and the sea to the east!" her husband replied.
"Tiana, please make the mountain stop!" another shouted, running towards her and grabbing her hand protectively.
Tiana was overwhelmed with the sight of her clan in chaos, scared, with no where to go. They were right. The mountain had never acted this way before but they couldn't stay there. But where would they go? The French occupied areas of land to the west and south and the sea cut off their escape to the east. With her council no longer held together since Rogar's untimely death and no one else to lead her people, her clan looked to her for as much guidance as they would have her father. This time though she had nothing to give them, not even peace of mind that everything would be alright, and seeing Lel and her sister only gave her some relief.
"Are you ok?" Lel asked, letting go of Patia's hand and embracing Tiana.
"I'm fine but the clan isn't. I don't know what to say to them to keep them under control!" she spoke into his chest, looking up at him with tears forming in her eyes.
He pulled her away so he could look at her. "You can do this. Your strength has been tested before and you've beaten the odds. You can do this," he tried to reassure her.
Patia shrugged off their embrace and left them alone to search for provisions. She knew already what she needed to do and she did not care who tried to stop her. She loved her sister dearly but wanted nothing in the world more than to take her place as clan leader. As much as she stood back in times of duty (and out of respect for her sister), she secretly devoted her life to making sure the clan was provided for when Tiana could not. The clan had even grown fond of her and there had been some resistance among the younger clansmen in following Tiana's lead at times.
Lel finally caught up with her near the smoking house. "What are you up to?" he eyed her mildly.
"If we are to leave the village, we'll need as much food as we can carry! There's no telling how far we will have to travel in order to escape the mountain's wrath," she stated proudly.
He stepped in her path and spoke delicately, not wanting to hurt her feelings with his words. "Why don't you let your sister do that? You shouldn't try to undermine her abilities."
"You disgust me at how much you defend her sometimes!" she spat and pushed past him into the smoking house.
The steam rising from the fires made the room incredibly warm. She grabbed for a hand wagon from the corner and began to take down the meat that was already smoked. Lel followed her in but stood in the doorway admiring her work, almost chuckling out loud. When he finally spoke to her, he had to stop himself from laughing.
"What's the rush? It was only a little rumble. I'm sure nothing is going to happen."
"You saw the hole in the ground! The split was working its way towards our village! We have to leave while we still can!" she answered him, still working on getting meat down from the rafters.
"Who will follow you? Everyone knows your sister is the clan leader now." He knew he had pushed her buttons with that last comment. She got down off the ladder she was on and marched herself over to him with a stern look in her eyes.
"You ask me to run away with you through the very same mountains that tried to kill us, and now you insult me in the wake of my sister's lack of leadership?!" she scowled, almost hitting him over the head with a piece of meat she held in her hand.
"Calm down, Patia!" he mused. "I only meant that it is going to be difficult to get the clan to follow your word against your sister's. She has earned their respect over the years, especially since she cheated death somehow."
"If the clan knew her dark secrets they'd never forgive her for it!" she spat angrily.
"If they knew what I know..." he said under his breath.
"It doesn't matter! What matters is the clan and what they need is to—"
"There's no need for concern, sister," her sentence was interrupted. "We're not going anywhere so I'd suggest you put all that smoked meat back otherwise we'll have nothing to see us through the winter!"
"Lel and I saw what is going to happen to this place if we don't leave! I'm getting us out of here—"
"We don't need to leave and you sister better learn to respect and obey commands just like everyone else. Now do put the meat away, it will spoil otherwise," Tiana replied abusively.
Patia dropped whatever meat was in her hand and fled the house. Tiana completely humiliated and undermined her attempt to save the clan from whatever dangers she thought were forthcoming. Lel made an attempt to go after her (as well he should have), but Tiana stepped in his way.
"Please, she's my sister. Let me deal with her. Do me a favor and put away the meat before it spoils."
"When will the fighting with you two stop?" he questioned.
"Eventually," she reassured him. "When she finally stops going behind my back to do things for the sake of the clan. She just doesn't understand and never will!" and she was gone.
Lel began to put the smoked meat back up onto the rafters but was soon greeted by a familiar yet unwanted face. "Have you seen Patia?"
"Her sister went to go look for her," he groaned.
"Oh, well I have a story I want her to hear so can you just tell her I was looking for her?" Garridan smiled a gleam of infatuation in his eyes.
"Sure," Lel gritted through his teeth. As he watched Garridan walk away, he spat under his breath. Over the years he had grown very protective of Patia, not just as a lover but as a surrogate brother. She was a good four to five years younger than her sister but still had the same fire in her eyes that attracted him to both sisters. Any ‘suitor' such as Garridan made his blood boil because he felt no other man would be good enough for her, but he still allowed them to at least worship the ground she walked on. He vowed to find Patia before Garridan did though, and after having words with Tiana, he knew she would need a shoulder to cry on and not a story to listen to.
* * * * *
"You are too harsh on your sister, moncherrie," the voice replied before appearing in Tiana's hut again.
"You pity her too much! She needs to understand that in order for me to gain respect of any kind, she can't go around disrespecting my authority!" she replied sternly, turning around to face him.
"Moncherrie, you need to stop acting as if your sister is always against you," he replied, moving in alongside her and placing his hands protectively on her shoulders. He slid his hands lower down her back and tried to work out the knots he found along the way, but she leaned back into him, causing his hands to caress her sides and stomach instead.
"What do you propose I do about it?"
"Try accepting her help once-in-a-while," he breathed on her ear before kissing her neck gently.
"Bite me!" she breathed, not really paying much attention to his words.
"Not today, moncherrie," he continued to kiss her neck and ear. "Today you need to solve this problem on your own, instead of getting lost the rush of running away."
"I still hate you!" she sighed, trying to catch her breath.
"Why? Because I'm the only one who knows how to handle your aggression?" he mused.
"Because you always do this to me every time I get upset!" she countered, turning slightly to face him again.
A rumbling in the distance cut their lovers' quarrel short. The mountain had begun to throw smoke into the atmosphere and the air near the village soon grew heavy and dark. A second rumbling was much closer and shook the ground enough to cause a vase to come crashing down. Didier held her tight as she braced herself against him. As he always does, Lel came running into her hut when he heard the crash, but quickly realized he had interrupted a rather intimate moment. Unfortunately for Tiana, she had almost forgotten the hatred for Didier that had consumed Lel since she had chosen to save them both from death.
"I was going to ask if you were alright, but I can see he beat me to that!" he glared at his former shipmate, who still had his arms protectively around Tiana.
"Glad to see you as well," Didier replied, still caressing Tiana's stomach just to entice Lel's anger.
"Stop it both of you! I'm fine Lel. Tell the clan not to worry about anything. The mountain has smoked before and we're all fine."
"Are you blind?" he spat, anger getting the best of him. "We need to leave, and quickly!"
"Lel, stop playing the hero! I didn't save your life to have you try to control mine! We're not going anywhere and we should try not to cause panic among the clan! Now go tell them that we're fine, there's nothing to worry about, and we are staying here!" she ordered him.
"You heard the order, Lel," Didier chimed in. "Now run along and go play!" he smiled, and then buried his lips in the nape of her neck, making her giggle like a schoolgirl.
Repulsed, Lel left her hut and headed down to the river where he had hoped to wash away the image of the two of them from his mind. It had been bad enough to have to witness how Didier was with women when he was a shipmate, but it made him almost sick to his stomach knowing he was that way with Tiana now. But as he stepped closer to the riverbank, he realized he was not going to be alone. Garridan had caught up with Patia, and they sat there at the edge of the river, with her in his lap and him reading something he written her, most likely the story he had mentioned to Lel earlier.
A growl behind him suddenly caused him to leap to the left as a hyena-like creature approached them. Lel managed to yell something that got muffled as his face hit the grass, but it was enough to startle them both into jumping up and out of harm's way. The creature chased after Garridan, who had impulsively thrown his story into the river, and all Patia could do was stand and scream. When Lel had regained his composure, he chased after the beast until it finally turned on him and charged. It leapt into the air and knocked him backwards onto his back. Patia screamed when she saw blood and ran to his side, tears in her eyes.
Slowly, she poked at the beast and seeing that it didn't move to her touch, pushed it off him with all her strength. She buried her head in his shoulder and cried, ignoring the fact that Garridan had taken a swim in the river to catch up with his papers down-stream. Lel moved his arm up and around her and as soon as she felt his arm, she looked up into his eyes and blinked away her tears.
"I didn't think they were real," he mustered up the energy to say.
"Who?" she asked him, leaning back so he could sit up.
"The lycans," he states, forgetting she didn't know what he was talking about. "Lycans," he repeated. "I thought they were beast of legend- human form normally, but animal form when they feed. They legend says they live and feed in the mountains."
"And you wanted me to cross the mountains will you?!" she pouted, playfully punching him in the shoulder.
"You know I would have protected you," he reassured her, rubbing his shoulder. "They were stuff of story tales, not real anyway. Apparently though, they are more real than I thought," he added, shaking his head and looking around. The creature was gone.